Category Archives: Academy Blog

This year’s NRD dinner was a huge success – thank you to everyone who attended and worked so hard behind the scenes to make it work. We raised a massive £60,000. Eat Out wrote a great piece about it – which you can read by clicking here. You can also view pics from the event – and behind the scenes on our gallery page here.          

A survey of UK consumers has found that restaurant service remains a more important factor than food pricing to drive whether diners make recommendations to friends and family or leave a restaurant early. CLICK HERE FOR MORE        

The Academy of Food and Wine Service has launched a new website for its popular UK Sommelier of the Year competition. Anyone interested in the competition can find details about how it is run, past winners, sponsors, media partners, judges and how to enter as well as the latest update on entries received and the progress of the competition. Entries are now open for the UK Sommelier of the Year … Read more…

Academy director Gerard Basset MS, MW, OBE, and the current holder of the title World’s Best Sommelier, explains the basics of storing, opening and pouring champagne as well as looking at the different styles and when they should be drunk.  

On Friday 11 November the  BII and the Academy of Food and Wine Service were invited by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to host a wine tasting event at the Embassy in London for a delegation of top officials. The event was hosted by Neil Robertson, BII Chief Executive, and Nick Scade, Chairman of the Academy of Food and Wine Service, and was designed to offer an … Read more…

Sommelier and hotelier Gerard Basset MS, MW, the Academy’s technical director and owner of the highly successful Hotel TerraVina in Hampshire, attended an investiture at Windsor Castle last Thursday [20 October] to be appointed OBE by Princess Anne, The Princess Royal. Gerard, who last year added to his long list of award and competition successes by becoming the World’s Best Sommelier, was appointed OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List … Read more…

De Vere is one of the first hotel companies to join the Academy of Food and Wine Service’s Academy Centre of Excellence scheme. The group’s De Vere Academy of Hospitality has gained recognition as an ACE training centre, meaning that it has achieved a high standard of excellence for its front-of-house training. The training is already showing dividends, with the group’s star apprentice James Clark, 19, (pictured left) becoming a  … Read more…