Get to know our 2026 Barca-Velha Golden Vines MW Scholars!
The morning Christy Furhman received the email from Romane Basset, Co-Founding Trustee and Head of Operations at the Gerard Basset Foundation, congratulating her on winning one of the two 2026 Barca-Velha Golden Vines MW Shcholarships, she gasped so loudly that her husband came rushing out of the shower asking what was wrong. The scholarship, operated by the Gerard Basset Foundation in partnership with SOGRAPE, offers two scholars £35,000 each in funding towards their Master of Wine studies, £15,000 of which may be used for bespoke internships and educational wine travels around the world and visits to premium wine estates. Additionally, the scholars are welcomed into the Gerard Basset Foundation community of wine, spirits and hospitality professionals who are eager to learn from and support each other – a great source of motivation to those who live in more isolated areas and don’t have access to study groups or workshops.
“I just started crying,” Christy recalls, describing how she sat on her bed with her phone in her hand in disbelief. “It took a while for me to believe that it happened, that it wasn’t a mistake and that I wasn’t going to get a follow-up email saying, ‘We’re so sorry, we didn’t mean to send that to you, we made a mistake.’ Loreto Pancorbo knows that feeling of incredulity well, and nods in agreement. When the same email appeared in her inbox, offering her the second scholarship, she read and reread it multiple times; to be certain she had understood it correctly, she even translated the text into Spanish using an online translator and read it once more in her native tongue. Convinced she had performed poorly in her scholarship interview, Loreto was expecting to receive an email thanking her for applying but regretting to inform her the scholarship had been offered to someone else. An email of congratulations was not even remotely on her radar.
Nevertheless, from a pool of 48 applicants based in 22 different countries, Christy Fuhrman (American, originally from New Orleans, based in Chicago) and Loreto Pancorbo (Spanish, originally from Rioja, based on the Canary Islands) have been selected by a panel of judges as this year’s Barca-Velha Golden Vines MW scholars. After the initial surprise of her big win, Loreto has reflected on what this scholarship means to her. She puts her cards on the table and explains that without the scholarship she would not have been able to afford the course fees this coming year and would probably have had to take another year out. “I have [often felt] terrified, like I was nothing in this industry,” she says, “but I feel I have more confidence and strength now.” Christy is quick to agree, sharing that she was at a point where she thought she might have to walk away from the programme for a few years because of financial constraints and other personal circumstances which are taking up much of her time. “Having this team behind us now that believes in us is an amazing feeling. I am going to go through with this, and now I have more of a support system than I did before.”
A support system is something which has often been noticeable in its absence throughout Christy’s career. She learnt early on that if she didn’t believe in herself, nobody else would, especially as she often found herself to be the only woman in the room. Even as she progressed in her wine knowledge, gaining certification upon certification, her opinions were frequently undervalued and questioned in a way which those of her male colleagues were not. “It’s a hard thing going up to a table to give them wine recommendations and them asking for the sommelier, and you’re saying, ‘I am the sommelier, I am also the beverage director here’ and them saying, ‘No, the man…’” The experience made her determined to expand her knowledge and increase her credentials so that people have no choice but to take her seriously. The Master of Wine is the ultimate challenge to prove to herself and others that she does actually know a little something about wine.
Loreto, co-owner of her own winery Tierra Fundida alongside her husband, can relate to Christy’s struggles. The viticulture and winery space, she says, is heavily male dominated and she finds it difficult to be taken seriously. When she and her husband visit other wineries or vine growers, people will frequently listen to her politely, then turn to her husband for approval of what she just said. “It’s like he has to say, ‘yes, it’s alright, you can trust her’” she says, shaking her head. Before her current role, Loreto had worked for six years for a winery on the Canary Islands, a job from which she was fired. Not because she wasn’t performing well, she says, but because she had three children during the time she was there. “I was totally lost without any job, three kids alone on the island with my husband,” Loreto recalls, “and I was slightly freaking out.” Nonetheless, Loreto is continuing to fight for her place in the wine world. She is passionate about saving the viticultural heritage of the Canary Islands (they are losing 190 hectares of vines every year) and tells us that a large part of why she wants to become a Master of Wine is so that she can go to the Ministry of Agriculture and ask for a grant to preserve the local wine industry. She is hopeful that, with the highly coveted MW after her name, she might be able to at least get a discussion going.
The scholarship also comes with significant travel opportunities and when asked what her dream destination is, Christy laughs. “I don’t think there is anywhere that makes wine that I don’t want to go to! Sicily has always been a dream of mine because making wine on the side of a volcano… pretty fantastic.” Loreto is incredibly excited to get to taste wines that she cannot easily get hold of on the Canary Islands. As part of that effort, she would like to visit other small regions similar to her home base to see how they are adapting to the changing climate. One such location is Pantelleria, the volcanic satellite island of Sicily, where she believes she can learn much that she can bring back home. Well, it seems like a trip to Sicily might be on the cards for our 2026 Barca-Velha Golden Vines MW scholars!
Congratulations once again Christy and Loreto, and a warm welcome to the Gerard Basset Foundation family!