Gerard Basset is the owner with his wife, Nina, of Hotel Terravina, a New Forest Hotel near Southampton in Hampshire, United Kingdom. According to a December 2008 interview with The Independent, he is currently the only person in the world to hold the combined titles of Master of Wine, Master Sommelier and Wine MBA.
(from en.wikipedia.org)
I copy from their blog ....
"Greek Wines from Crete
2010 FEBRUARY 26
by hotelterravina
Have you ever experienced this- you drink a wine on holiday and love it. So much so that you bring a few bottles home and when you next drink a bottle of it, at home, it doesn’t taste the same as you remember? Often this is due to the fact that on holiday the sun is shining, you are relaxed and chilled out, the food is different and matches with its surroundings, the weather and the wine- sometimes at home it tastes different because the circumstance are different, be it the company, the weather and the food. Thus we are always slightly fearful when friends ask Gerard to give his opinion of a wine they have found on their travels, that they love and want to know what he thinks of it, as sometimes his thoughts on it are not what they want to hear.
Thus it was with a little trepidation that I asked Gerard to taste some Greek wines which a friend and business associate asked his opinion of…. We have known him many years, and in fact rely on his advice and expertise often and so we wanted to help but didn’t want to offend him if the wine was not as good as he hoped- we needn’t have worried.
The wines are from Greece, the island of Crete in fact and Gerard has now sampled them twice over the past 8 months and they are delicious. What is surprising is that the red wines are very light in colour and appear quite “thin” in the glass but when tasted are spicy, surprisingly full and pleasantly fruity flavoured, with a medium length of finish. They also make olive oil and honey which are also apparently delicious (I am looking forward to sampling these when the next trip to Crete takes place in April sometime and Peter brings us some back to taste along with some of their sweet wines to sample too)
If you are visiting Crete this spring or summer and fancy visiting a vineyard and learning more about the wines the details are:
Yiannis Economou from Ziros at Winery Economou, Crete
www.wineryeconomou.blogspot.com
Happy tasting!
www.hotelterravina.co.uk
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Dear Sir,
We wish you best success in the upcoming World's best sommelier competition!
Yiannis & Natassa Economou
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