Introducing the Barca-Velha Golden Vines® MW Scholarships

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.