Gérard Basset Foundation: Where Legacy Becomes a Future
Author: Kateryna Yushchenko
The 2025 Golden Vines® Online Auction is now open until 9 November 2025 and has already raised more than $700,000 so far.
When Gérard Basset OBE MS MW left us in 2019, the wine world lost more than its most decorated sommelier – a guiding spirit.
A man who had built bridges where others built walls, who believed that wine was not an elite language, but a universal one, meant to be shared, taught, and passed on.
His friend and collaborator, Lewis Chester MW, together with Nina Basset, his wife and one of the esteemed Wine Travel Awards judges for several seasons, and Romané Basset, his son, transformed grief into purpose by founding the Gérard Basset Foundation. Their goal was simple yet revolutionary: to open the doors of the wine, spirits, and hospitality world to anyone with passion – regardless of background, geography, or privilege.Since then, the Foundation has raised over $5 million and directly impacted nearly 1,600 beneficiaries in 35 countries – from scholarships and mentorships to full-scale education and diversity initiatives.
Their partnerships span from Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Court of Master Sommeliers, and The Taylor’s Port Golden Vines® Awards to grassroots training programs across Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
Ukraine and Beyond: Solidarity Through Education
Among the Foundation’s most inspiring actions has been its unwavering support for Ukraine’s wine professionals during the war – offering scholarships, visibility, and hope to a community determined to survive and rebuild and contribute to global wine culture.
In Kyiv, Odesa, and Lviv, sommelier schools and educators supported by the Foundation have continued their work – proof that education can outlast even the darkest times.
For many Ukrainian sommeliers and students, the Foundation’s grants became financial assistance and a moral gesture – a reminder that the international wine family stands together.
Golden Vines 2025: A Symphony of Generosity and Imagination
The spirit of Gérard Basset lives on each year in The Golden Vines® Charity Events, created by Liquid Icons.
The tradition expands again in 2025 with The Golden Vines® Online Charity Auction, which will be open to bidders worldwide from 20 October to 9 November 2025.
More than a hundred extraordinary lots – bottles drawn from legendary cellars and experiences few could even dream of – invite the world to bid and belong.
Yet what makes the auction exceptional is not its glamour, but its meaning.
Each lot is a window into artistry, friendship, and legacy.
The afternoon at Le Pin in Pomerol, where Fiona and Jacques Thienpont welcome guests alongside Jancis Robinson OBE MW, is not just a tasting – it is a conversation across generations about what wine can be.
The Rare Champagne dinner at the historic Résidence Eisenhower revives 1945 in crystal and candlelight, reminding us how history and hedonism coexist with reverence.
The Maestro’s Golden Ticket, offering a private encounter with Andrea Bocelli backstage, beyond the stage lights, reveals how music, like wine, becomes eternal when it moves hearts and funds change.
Some journeys intertwine art, speed, and place – such as the VVIP Formula 1 & Wine Experience in Baku, which unites adrenaline with the elegance of fine gastronomy and hospitality.
Each experience feels cinematic, but together they form something greater: a narrative of giving back through beauty.
Sustainability of Spirit
Sustainability is often spoken of in vineyards, yet the Gérard Basset Foundation gives it a human meaning.
True sustainability is not only about soil health or carbon footprints – it is about continuity, the transmission of wisdom, care, and opportunity.
Every scholarship, every mentorship, every glass shared in Gérard’s name renews that cycle.
As Gérard Basset once said, “Wine connects people – if you let it.”
Through this year’s Golden Vines Online Auction, connection becomes legacy: a sustainable culture of excellence and empathy, where success is measured not by what you own, but by what you enable others to achieve.
Because great wine, like great humanity, is always meant to be passed on.
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