Winchester Cathedral to host service of thanksgiving for Gerard Basset

A memorial service to celebrate the life of award-winning sommelier and hotelier Gerard Basset is to be held at Winchester Cathedral on 14 June.

Gerard passed away on 16 January, aged 61, following a diagnosis of oesophagus cancer in 2017. He was named as the World's Best Sommelier in 2010, as well as being the winner of a plethora of other awards including four Cateys (the Special Award in 2010, Wine and Spirit Ambassador Award in 2014, as well as Newcomer of the Year for Hotel du Vin in 1996 and Hotel of the Year for Hotel du Vin in 2001).

Gerard was survived by his wife Nina and their son Romané.

The Basset family has close personal ties with Winchester, in particular it was the city where Gerard co-founded the first Hotel du Vin with Robin Hutson in 1994.

Following the sale of Hotel du Vin in 2004, Gerard and Nina opened 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.

Members of the wine and hospitality industries are invited by Nina and Romané to attend the service of thanksgiving, which will take place at 11am.

Following the service, a reception will be held at the Guildhall, Winchester.

Anyone who would to join the service should email inmemoriam@culturalcomms.co.uk by 30 May, with an indication of the number of attendees.

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