Golden Vines BAME/BIPOC scholarship winners unveiled

By Lisa Riley

Published: 07 June, 2021

Liquid Icons, the fine wine research and content production company founded by the late Gerard Basset OBE MW MS and his friend Lewis Chester, has announced the winners of its Golden Vines scholarships for BAME/BIPOC students.

Announced last month, the scholarships comprise The Golden Vines Masters of Wine Scholarship, The Golden Vines Master Sommelier Scholarship and The Golden Vines Wine Scholar Guild Scholarships.

The winner of the Masters of Wine (MW) Scholarship is Mags Jango DipWSET, the British founder of MJ Wine Cellars and bamewineprofessionals.co.uk, while the Master Sommelier (MS) Scholarship went to Winnie Toh, an Asian Advanced Sommelier Certificate holder (The Court of Master Sommeliers Europe) sommelier from Singapore working at the Aman Hotel in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The MW and the MS scholarships, which are funded by the Gerard Basset Wine Education Charitable Foundation, are each worth £12,500, and will cover the full costs of tuition, examination and tastings incurred by the student studying for these programmes.

In addition,10 applicants to The Taylor’s Port Golden Vines Diversity Scholarships were awarded Golden Vines Wine Scholar Guild Scholarships, with winners having the opportunity to specialise in the country of their choice, by selecting enrolment in one of the Wine Scholar Guild’s advanced French, Spanish or Italian Wine Scholar Certification Programs.

“We are delighted to be able to offer these two additional scholarships to such talented, deserving members of the BAME/BIPOC community so that they can reach their full potential in the wine industry and act as role models to encourage other members from these communities to consider a career in wine,” said Nina Basset, trustee of the Gerard Basset Wine Education Charitable Foundation.

The BAME/BIPOC scholarships are in addition to the headline Taylor’s Port Golden Vines Diversity Scholarships announced in March, for which Liquid Icons said it had received a “far greater number” than expected.

The winners were chosen by the same judging panel that is responsible for awarding The Taylor’s Port Scholarships, with the judging panel comprising Nina Basset FIH, Rajat Parr (Sandhi Wines), Carlton McCoy MS (Lawrence Wine Estates), Clement Robert MS (The Birley Clubs / Annabel’s) and lead judge Jancis Robinson OBE MW.

Winners of The Taylor’s Port Scholarships will be announced on 7 October at The Golden Vines Awards Ceremony.

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