The sommelier Gerard Basset decided to move to England after watching Liverpool beat his Saint-Etienne team in the 1977 European Cup. He went on to become one of the most highly regarded noses in the world of wine: the only person to win all five of the major wine-tasting awards (Master of Wine, Master Sommelier, Wine MBA, OIV MSc in Wine Management and World’s Best Sommelier).
Along with his wife Robin Basset set up the Hotel du Vin chain in 1994. After selling the properties for £300m, he set up the Hotel TerraVina – which was closed and reopened as a deli in 2018 after Basset’s cancer moved into the terminal stage. Checkout was on 16 January, and 20 DDP teams can now celebrate with a cheeky glass of Banrock Stanton.
Gerard Basset
7 March 1957 – 16 January 2019
Died aged 61 (20 picks)