14 JUNE 2021 | LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – Liquid Icons – the fine wine research and content production company founded by the late, great Gerard Basset OBE MW MS and his friend Lewis Chester DipWSET – conducted its largest ever survey of global fine wine professionals.
442 leading fine wine professionals from 55 countries completed detailed surveys for The 2021 Gerard Basset Global Fine Wine Report, almost a fourfold increase on last year’s survey. The survey included questions relating both to trends in the fine wine industry, as well as nominations for The Golden Vines™ Awards.
57 Masters of Wine, 31 Master Sommeliers, 140 DipWSET and 77 Advanced Sommeliers contributed to the Report survey. Contributors included 197 sommeliers, 133 fine wine merchants, 93 fine wine distributors, 80 members of the wine press, 57 fine wine brokers and 15 auction house professionals, based or operating in 55 countries worldwide. Those polled in the survey averaged at least 18 years of fine wine experience. Liquid Icons estimates that the completed surveys contain over 30,000 data points which will form the basis of The 2021 Gerard Basset Global Fine Wine Report when released in October 2021.
The Report findings will be independently adjudicated by Deloitte LLP, in accordance with the voting rules published on Liquid Icons website. The winners of The Golden Vines Award will be announced at The Golden Vines Awards Ceremony & Dinner, to be held at Annabel’s Private Members Club, London’s pre-eminent private members’ club, London on 7th October 2021.
The not-for-profit Golden Vines Awards event will recognise the ‘star performers of the fine wine industry’ and raise funds for The Gerard Basset Wine Education Charitable Foundation with the aim of funding diversity and inclusion-related wine education programmes, including the headline Taylor’s Port Golden Vines Diversity Scholarships, worth £55,000 each for two BAME/BIPOC students studying for the Master of Wine or Master Sommelier programmes.
The Golden Vines™ Award Categories are:
- The Golden Vines Best Fine Wine Producer in Europe Award
- The Golden Vines Best Fine Wine Producer in the Americas Award
- The Golden Vines Best Fine Wine Producer in the Rest of the World
(Australasia, Africa, Asia & Middle East) Award - The Golden Vines World’s Best Fine Wine Producer Award
- The Golden Vines World’s Best Rising Star Award
- The Golden Vines Innovation Award
- The Golden Vines Hall of Fame Award – awarded to a living individual for extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the production of fine wine, or for outstanding service to the world of fine wine
Additionally, Liquid Icons will be awarding The Golden Vines Honorary Award to a recently-deceased icon of the fine wine industry at a ceremony in London in July 2021, unveiling for the first time The Golden Vines Trophy. At this ceremony, the short-list of the top two polled nominees for The Golden Vines Hall of Fame and The Golden Vines Innovation Award will also be announced.
Those interested in receiving a complimentary copy of The 2021 Gerard Basset Global Fine Wine Report can register their interest at https://liquidicons.com/sign-up-to-receive-the-gerard-basset-global-fine-wine-report
