Shortlist for Gerard Basset Travel Scholarship revealed
Nina Basset - who judged the awards alongside Romané Basset, Tim Atkin MW, Ronan Sayburn MS and Laura Rhys MS - said that the standard of applications had been impressive, and that this year there were some very interesting choices of wish-list countries to travel to with the £5,000 Bursary prize.
The six sommeliers are Josie Phillips from the The Macallen Estate; Daniel Stojcic from The Raby Hunt; Bradley Tomlinson from Leroy; Eleonora Kausinyte from Brat; Fergus Watson from Cail Bruich Group and finally former Noble Rot sommelier Joshua Castle.
The winning candidate will receive a travel bursary of £5,000 and help from the judging panel in planning and tailoring their trip to their chosen wine region, to make it as educational and interesting an experience as possible.
The other five shortlisted candidates will also benefit from the mentorship of the judges to help further their careers.
The competition was established in 2019 in honour of highly respected sommelier and restaurateur Gérard Basset, who passed away in early 2019 after a battle with cancer.
Basset passed both a Master of Wine and a Master Sommelier, co-founded Hotel du Vin and is a former World Champion Sommelier.
The inaugural winner of the competition was L’Enclume’s Lise Donier-Meroz.
