May 28, 2025 — Liquid Icons, the Gérard Basset Foundation and Casa Ferreirinha are delighted to announce the launch of the 2025 Barca-Velha Golden Vines® MW Scholarships. The Barca-Velha Golden Vines® MW Scholarships will offer two lucky winners an unparalleled opportunity to support their Master of Wine (MW) studies, alongside creating a bespoke internship programme for themselves with the support of a panel of mentors, enabling them to learn from some of the world’s greatest fine wine and rare spirit estates. Each Scholar will receive £35,000 in funding to be used to support their MW studies and their internship programme, as well as a unique SOGRAPE Portugal experience, during which the Scholars will visit SOGRAPE’s wineries and vineyards in Porto, the Douro Valley and elsewhere, to learn in-person from SOGRAPE’s world-leading team and globally renowned estates.
The winners will be selected in two rounds by a judging panel consisting of:
- Richard Bampfield MW
- Nina Basset FIH, Gérard Basset Foundation
- Joana Pais, Head of Prestige, SOGRAPE
- Clement Robert MS, Liquid Icons
- Jancis Robinson OBE MW
- Luis Sottomayor, Head Winemaker, Casa Ferreirinha
- Neil Tully MW, The Institute of Masters of Wine
Applications are officially open and will close at 12:00am BST on Friday 4th July 2025.
To learn more and to apply, please visit:
https://gerardbassetfoundation.org/scholarships/the-barca-velha-golden-vines-mw-scholarships-in-wine
Commenting on these new scholarships, Fernando da Cunha Guedes, President of Sogrape & 3rd generation of the Guedes Family, remarked:
“At Sogrape, we believe in collaboration and innovation as drivers of change. Supporting this initiative reaffirms our commitment to sustainability, education, and the celebration of wine culture. We are proud to join the Gérard Basset Foundation and Liquid Icons in contributing to a more forward-thinking and skilled future for the wine sector, as this support also reinforces Portugal’s position on the global Fine Wines landscape.”
Nina Basset FIH, Co-Founding Trustee of the Gérard Basset Foundation, added:
“We are thrilled to partner with Casa Ferreirinha in creating these impactful scholarships. The Master of Wine course is an arduous and long journey, and so it is wonderful to be able to collaborate with our partners in the industry to provide mentoring, financial support and educational opportunities to enable people to pursue their MW dream and further their careers”
In addition to the 2 Barca-Velha Golden Vines® MW Scholarships, applicants will also have the possibility of being awarded a Golden Vines® Wine Scholar Guild Scholarship. These awards offer 10 Scholars the opportunity to undertake their choice of the WSG’s extensive courses specialising in some of the world’s most interesting wine countries and regions. The Scholarships allow winners to deepen their expertise as they continue their career progression, while gaining industry-recognized credentials. Winners will also benefit from a 1-year WSG membership, giving them access to an active global community and abundant educational content and resources created by the world’s leading authorities in wine. These Scholarships are awarded at the discretion of the Barca-Velha Golden Vines® MW Scholarship Judging Panel to outstanding applicants who the Judges feel are not yet ready for the MW Scholarships, but who they wish to recognise and aid on their educational path.
About Casa Ferreirinha
Casa Ferreirinha has been an integral part of the Sogrape family since its acquisition in 1987. It is a pioneering force and leading producer of high-quality still wines from the Douro region, renowned for creating the iconic Barca-Velha in 1952. At a time when the Douro was almost entirely focused on Port wine, Casa Ferreirinha broke new ground. Driven by an unwavering commitment to excellence and innovation,
the estate redefined the region’s winemaking potential, establishing a reputation for producing some of Portugal’s most prestigious still wines, celebrated for their exceptional quality and remarkable consistency. With a heritage spanning more than 250 years, tracing back to the foundation of Ferreira, Casa Ferreirinha stands as a symbol of enduring oenological excellence. Remarkably, the estate has had only three winemakers throughout its history—whose tenures all overlapped at one point in time. This rare continuity ensured a direct transmission of knowledge, values, and winemaking philosophy, reinforcing Casa Ferreirinha’s deep-rooted commitment to tradition, consistency, and the true character of the Douro. Casa Ferreirinha remains steadfast in preserving the region’s identity, upholding its high standards, and faithfully expressing the true essence of the Douro in every bottle. https://sogrape.com/brand/casa-ferreirinha
About Liquid Icons and the Golden Vines®
Liquid Icons is a fine wine research and content production company founded by two friends – the late, great Gérard Basset OBE MW MS and Lewis Chester DipWSET – alongside Alexander A. (Sasha) Lushnikov to “do stuff in wine”. Liquid Icons creates first-class original content and industry research about the world’s greatest fine wines and spirits. The company’s work encompasses motion picture, industry research, recognition and celebration of wine and spirits excellence, charitable and fundraising activities, as well as educational initiatives. The Golden Vines® annual activity includes (1) Diversity & Inclusion Scholarships curated on behalf of the Gérard Basset Foundation; (2) a 3-day experience for luxury oenophiles and epicureans within a city renowned for their food and drink culture. Previous years’ experiences held in London, Florence, Paris and Madrid and in 2025 in Miami; (3) live and global online auctions in benefit of the Gérard Basset Foundation; (4) pioneering annual awards for the ‘best of the best’ producers and protagonists in the world of fine wine and rare spirits, informed by the most extensive and in-depth industry research ever conducted.liquidicons.com @GoldenVinesAwards
About the Gérard Basset Foundation
The Gérard Basset Foundation in the world’s leading charitable foundation dedicated to using the wine, spirits & hospitality industries as a global vehicle for change by funding education, training and mentorship programmes which focus on opening up these sectors to passionate and talented individuals, regardless of their backgrounds of circumstances. Gérard Basset (7th March 1957 – 16th January 2019) OBE MS MW MBA OIV MSc ASI World’s Best Sommelier 2010 was without question one of the greatest wine professionals of his era. During his lifetime, Gérard mentored and trained a generation of young sommeliers who sought out his expertise and guidance to launch their own successful careers. Many of those protégés are not connected with the Foundation and remain instrumental in keeping Gérard’s legacy alive and flourishing. The Gérard Basset Foundation was co-founded in 2021 by Gérard’s wife Nin and their son Romané who also serve as trustees alongside Jancis Robinson OBE MW and Iah Harris. https://gerardbassetfoundation.org/
