Gerard Basset has been appointed Wine Ambassador at Shangri-La Group
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, the Asia-based luxury hotel group, has appointed one of the most esteemed professionals in wine, Gerard Basset OBE, as the group's first wine ambassador. The U.K.-based French native won the 2010 Best Sommelier in the World title and is the only person ever to simultaneously hold the Master of Wine, Master Sommelier and MBA Wine honours. Basset will work alongside Yang Lu, Shangri-La's corporate wine director on enhancing the group's wine programme and nurturing its talented hotel sommeliers. Basset is known throughout the industry for inspiring and mentoring a generation of young sommeliers as well as for sharing his expert knowledge with professional and amateur wine enthusiasts. In his role as Shangri-La Wine Ambassador, Basset will attend the group's second Wine Summit in July, where he will pace sommeliers through a two-day seminar encompassing theory, practical skills and blind tasting and be among the judges for Shangri-La’s Best Sommelier Competition. In the same month, a premium event will allow wine connoisseurs and amateurs to join Basset and top sommeliers from the group to discover and compare wine styles and test their palates over a wine-paired dinner at Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing.
