The Gérard Basset Foundation has teamed up with Wine Owners, Lay and Wheeler and IG Wines to offer a scholarship to pursue a career in the wine industry. The Wine Owners Golden Vines Off-Trade Startup Scholarship is available for any BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) and/or BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) entrepreneur wishing to enter into, or newly entered into, the wine merchant, retailer, wine importation or distribution sectors.

The Foundation is named after the French Master Sommelier who died in 2019 aged 61: he won the title of World’s Best Sommelier in 2010, co-founded the Hotel du Vin chain, and opened Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest in Hampshire.

The Golden Vines Scholarship will, according to the Foundation, “support the learning and business management platform operating costs of an entrepreneur with a dream – and a plan – to start a wine merchant, retailer wine importer or distributor”.

Paid internships

Judges will also consider “an entrepreneur who has recently starting trading”, with the scholarship providing a three-month paid internship with Lay & Wheeler in London, with exposure to all aspects of the business, and a mentor assigned from the firm’s management team. There will also be one-month paid internship with IG wines.

The scholarship judging panel consists of Nick Martin of Wine Owners, Katy Keating of Lay & Wheeler, Magnavai Janjo of MJ Wine Cellars, and Sasha Lushnikov, representing Liquid Icons and the Gérard Basset Foundation.

Applicants have until March 6 to apply for this outstanding opportunity, with full details available online.