John Michael Broadbent, MW (2 May 1927 – 17 March 2020) was a British

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or govern ...

, writer and

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...

in a capacity as a Master of Wine. He was an authority on

wine tasting Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional w ...

and old wines.

Career

Broadbent was born in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. He was educated at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the ...

and trained as an architect but changed career, in 1952, at the age of twenty-five, and entered the wine trade first with Layton's, next with the West End Wine merchants, Saccone and Speed, and, from 1955 with Harvey's of Bristol. In 1960 he received the qualification of

Master of Wine Master of Wine (MW) is a qualification (not an academic degree) issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom. The MW qualification is generally regarded in the wine industry as one of the highest standards of professional kno ...

.winepros.com.au. In 1966 he resigned as Sales Director to start wine auctions at the London

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...

house

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, t ...

which would lead him to trade in and taste a greater number of fine and rare wines than anyone else in the world. His tasting notes are estimated to number over 90,000 in more than 140 notebooks. Until 1992 he was the senior director of Christie's wine department, and he remained a senior consultant with the firm until 2009. Journalist

Harry Eyres Harry Eyres (born 1958) is a British journalist, writer and poet Biography and Career Eyres was educated as a King's Scholar at Eton College, where he won the Newcastle Scholarship in 1975, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studie ...

, who worked as a junior expert at Christie's, wrote that Broadbent "created a small niche of glamour for himself as a jet-setting wine celebrity, while everybody else in the office toiled in near Dickensian conditions". As a wine writer, Broadbent was noted for publications of his records from a life of tasting wine.winepros.com.au. ''The Great Vintage Wine Book'' is a reference work with tasting notes from more than 6,000 wines dating back to the 17th century.winepros.com.au. In addition to authoring several wine books, he was a regular contributor to the wine magazines ''Vinum'' and ''Falstaff '', and wrote monthly for ''

Decanter A decanter is a vessel that is used to hold the decantation of a liquid (such as wine) which may contain sediment. Decanters, which have a varied shape and design, have been traditionally made from glass or crystal. Their volume is usually equ ...

'' since its inception in 1975. Broadbent lectured on the subject since the mid-1950s. Broadbent awarded a wine up to five stars, a system unlike the numerical score of the American wine critic Robert Parker. In 1979, Broadbent was appointed Chevalier of the

Ordre national du Mérite The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's es ...

, as well as an honorary member of the Académie du Vin de

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

and numerous other French wine associations. Among other positions held, Broadbent was Chairman of The Institute of Masters of Wine in 1970, Master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers, president of The International Wine and Food Society in 1986, president of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) 2007–2009 and Chairman of The Wine & Spirit Trades' Benevolent Society in 1991. He also stood as

Sheriff of the City of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

in 1993. In 2006 he participated as a judge in the 30th anniversary repetition of the original "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting competition.

Personal life

Michael Broadbent was widowed to the late Daphne Broadbent (1931–2015). Their son Bartholomew Broadbent is a wine importer in the United States who also makes Port, Madeira and Vinho Verde in Portugal and was a 50% owner of Dragon's Hollow winery in China. Michael Broadbent's daughter Emma, now The Lady Arbuthnot of Edrom, is the Chief Magistrate in England & Wales, married to The Right Honourable The Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom

James Arbuthnot James Norwich Arbuthnot, Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, (born 4 August 1952), is a British Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wanstead and Woodford from 1987 to 1997, and then MP for North East Hampshire from 19 ...

, MP. On 25 April 2019, in London, he married Valerie Smallwood, widow of Simon Smallwood, MW. He died on 17 March 2020 in Berkshire, aged 92.

Controversy

Broadbent was also among the wine industry experts whose association with alleged wine forger Hardy Rodenstock during the 1980s led to some embarrassment. In July 2009 it was announced that Broadbent would sue

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Ger ...

, the publishers of '' The Billionaire's Vinegar'' by Benjamin Wallace, an account of the "Jefferson bottles affair" and its court cases, for

defamation of character Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

, on claims that the book asserts Broadbent invented an auction bid and contains references to him colluding with Rodenstock. The suit was filed in the United Kingdom, and Random House initially stated it did not believe it had defamed Broadbent and would defend the lawsuit. In October 2009, Random House accepted that the allegations in the book were without foundation, removed the book from sale in the UK, made a full apology and paid Broadbent an undisclosed sum in damages. It was also reported that Wallace was not a party to the lawsuit or settlement, that

would be making no changes to the book, and that it would continue to publish the book in all territories outside the jurisdiction of the UK.

Bibliography

*''Guidance in the Techniques of Tasting'' (Harvey's of Bristol circa 1964) *''Guidance in the Techniques of Tasting'' (Brown & Prank 1966) *''Wine Tasting'' (1968-, 13 editions, translated into 8 foreign languages various publishers) *''Wine Tasting, Enjoying, Understanding'' (1977) *''Michael Broadbent's Pocket Guide to Wine Tasting'' (1979-, 7 editions Mitchell Beazley) *''The Great Vintage Wine Book'' (UK and US 1980, 1981; also in Dutch and German) *''The Complete Wine Taster & Cellarman'' (1984 Mitchell Beazley) *''The Great Vintage Wine Book II'' (UK and US 1991) *''Pocket Guide to Wine Vintages'' (1992, 1995, 2000) *''The Bordeaux Wine Atlas and Encyclopedia of Chateaux'' co-authored with Hubrecht Duijker (1997 in English, French, Dutch and German) *''Weine, prufen, kennen, geniessen (1997) *''Meine Lieblingsweine'' (Falken 1997) *''Die Weine der Neuen Welt'' (Falken 1998) *''Michael Broadbent's Wine Vintages'' (Mitchell Beazley 1998, 2003) *''Vintage Wine'' (Webster's/Little Brown UK, Harcourt US 2002, 2003-) *''Michael Broadbent's Wine Tasting'' (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides 2000, 2003) *''Grosse Weine'' (Hallwag 2004) *''Michael Broadbent's Pocket Vintage Wine Companion'' (Anova 2007)

External links

References