Lewis Chester DipWSET

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Liquid Icons

Lewis was an FCA-authorised investment manager with over 20 years’ experience in the financial sector, managing a suite of hedge funds across a range of investment strategies from short-term trading to private equity. In 2014, Lewis and his friend, Gerard Basset OBE MW MS, set up Liquid Icons, a fine wine research and content production company. In January 2021, Lewis decided to focus on philanthropic activities and fine wine-related pursuits, by co-founding the Gerard Basset Foundation together with Nina Basset FIH, Romané Basset, and Sasha Lushnikov as well as Ian Harris MBE DipWSET, and Jancis Robinson OBE MW as Founding Trustees. Lewis served as a Trustee & Treasurer of the Foundation until December 2021 and subsequently transitioned into the role of Honorary President & Head of Fundraising at the Foundation.

Lewis is an Oxford University graduate with a First Class Honours degree. While at Oxford, Lewis was awarded the John Ford prize for academic excellence. Lewis has an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. Prior to investment management, he went to law school in London and qualified as a solicitor with Linklaters & Paines, one of the world’s leading law firms.

While at Harvard Business School, Lewis founded The Churchill Club, a wine, whisky and cigar aficionado society.  When pursuing his career in investment management, Lewis began building a collection of rare whiskies and fine wine for his family. Today Lewis runs a large portfolio of fine wine, not only for his family, but also advises other families on their collections. In 2014, Lewis was awarded the Champagne Academy Scholarship by the Wine & Spirits Educational Trust (WSET). He holds the WSET Wine Diploma with Merit and was awarded the prestigious WSET Hardy’s Vintage Scholarship 2017. In 2017, Lewis was the Captain of the Harvard Business School Blind Wine Tasting team that won the Pol Roger International Business School Wine Tasting Challenge. In May 2018, Lewis was made a Chevalier du Tastevin de Bourgogne. In June 2024, Lewis was appointed a Cavaleiro by the Confraria do Vinho do Porto. Since June 2022, he is The Fine Wine & Rare Spirit Columnist for The Robb Report (Penske Media Corporation) and, additionally, since March 2024, The Fine Wine & Rare Spirit Columnist for LUX Magazine.