Gerard Basset crowdfunding campaign for memoirs smashes target

A crowdfunding campaign launched to raise £14,000 to cover the cost of publishing the memoirs of the late sommelier and hotelier Gerard Basset has reached its target in just two days.

will now be published later this year by international crowdfunding publisher Unbound.

Nearly £20,000 has been raised as a result of donations by 331 backers. Gerard's widow Nina and son Romané have said they want any additional money collected via the crowdfunding campaign to go towards the creation of a scholarship and annual trophy prize, which will be organised in conjunction with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

Gerard, co-founder of Hotel du Vin and the World's Best Sommelier 2010, died on 16 January nearly two years after he was diagnosed with oesophagus cancer.

He and Nina launched Hotel TerraVina at the gateway to the New Forest in Netley Marsh, Hampshire, in 2007. The business was relaunched last summer as an 11-bedroom boutique B&B called Spot in the Woods with the Kitchen Café.

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