Hotel TerraVina is a luxury boutique hotel near Southampton, in the heart of the New Forest. It has won a number of awards including ‘Best New Comer 2009’in the Good Hotel Guide as well as the Tourism ExSEllence award as the best hotel in the South East of England.

As well as his Hotel du Vin fame, Gerard is a World renowned Sommelier and holds Master Sommelier, Master of Wine and Wine MBA awards. In 1992, he won the Best International Sommelier for French Wines (Paris), in 1996 he won the Best Sommelier of Europe (Reims) and in the World Sommelier Championship he has finished twice 2nd in 1992 (Rio de Janeiro) and in 2004 (Athens) as well as 2nd equal in 2007 (Rhodes).

Vanessa Ugatti said:   Gerard is a total delight to work with.  Apart from the fact that he is very French and I am a francophile and fluent French speaker, he is also highly professional, an utter perfectionist and despite his massive success, an extremely modest man.  In terms of speaking, if you’ll pardon the pun, he knows his onions and is able to express himself clearly and competently.  My aim is to assist him to relax more when speaking, so that he can be a hundred per cent authentic, no matter who is in his audience.”