Wine Tastings, Wine Dinners and Wine Weekends with Gerard Basset
TELEPHONE:
023 8029 3784
Wine Connoisseurs’ Hotel in the New Forest
A luxury boutique hotel for lovers of wine, renowned for wine weekends, wine tastings, wine dinners and even wine games
Wine is at the core of Hotel TerraVina; it is our passion and it’s this passion that inspires us to unearth and share new wines with guests. So if you’re a wine lover already or you’re interested in learning more, we’re always delighted to share our knowledge and enthusiasm. You can view our open cellar with its eclectic collection or enjoy a tour of our vaulted basement cellars for an unusual opportunity to encounter new labels from small and interesting producers that combine high quality with excellent value for money.
Gerard Basset, one of the world’s top sommeliers, is the inspiration behind the wine culture of Hotel TerraVina. Gerard is renowned for his wine events at the hotel including informal and tutored wine tastings, wine dinners, wine weekends and sabrage. Having co-founded the Hotel du Vin Group in 1994, Gerard created and co-ran the Ecole du Vin. He has a considerable experience in running tutored wine tastings and wine classes.
Gerard Basset has been involved with wine for more than 20 years. In 1985 he gained his first wine qualification (the French Professional Certificate of Sommelier) in Lyon. Since then, he has obtained the Master Sommelier Examination in 1989 in London, The Master of Wine in 1998 in London, gaining in the process the Bollinger Cup as the best wine taster of the examination and the Bordeaux Wine MBA in 2007 (gaining best student and best thesis); Gerard is currently the only person in the world to hold simultaneously these three major wine qualifications. He has won a string of National and International Sommelier Competitions; amongst others, the UK Sommelier of the Year in 1989 and 1992, the Best Sommelier for French Wines in the UK in 1988 and 1992, the Best International Sommelier for French wines in 1992 in Paris, the European Sommelier Championship in Reims in 1996. In addition, he finished three times second in the World Sommelier Championship; in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, in 2004 in Athens and in 2007 in Rhodes (Equal 2nd where he won the Peter Lehmann Shiraz Prize).
Here are Gerard and Nina Basset at Hotel TerraVina in an excerpt from the popular ITV series, 'The Secrets of My Success'.