Michael Broadbent was a director at Christie’s for nearly thirty years. He once said a wine reminded him of Sophia LorenMichael Broadbent believed that the golden age of winemaking was long passed. It had occurred between 1848 and 1875 and again after a phylloxera plague that blighted French vineyards from 1919 to 1929. Even in his seventies he was a familiar figure at tastings as he arrived on his bicycle, wearing his trilby. Although he admitted to consuming wine with every meal, drank buck’s fizz for breakfast and took a glass of Madeira to punctuate his mornings and afternoons, Broadbent was a model of sobriety.

Source: The Times March 19, 2020 17:15 UTC