Daphne Broadbent, Michael Broadbent
Daphne Broadbent with husband Michael.
(Image credit: Decanter)

Decanter consultant editor Steven Spurrier remembers Daphne Broadbent, wife of veteran Decanter columnist Michael Broadbent, who has died aged 84.

Daphne Broadbent died at home over the weekend, just two weeks after her 84th birthday.

From Michael’s early days at Christie’s, I seldom saw one without the other, for they were always together, totally complementary in their sense of humour, often shown by a harmonious bickering.

Daphne was critical of Michael, condemning his soft-spoken manner as the prime lecturer at the Christie’s Wine Course, which he and I founded in October 1982 and to which Daphne accompanied him as ‘note taker’ from then to our final appearance together in October 2012, as “mind over mutter.’

But then she was refreshingly critical of everybody, even her children Emma and Bartholomew, never allowing them to watch television as they were growing up. The forthrightness of her opinions was founded in intelligent observation and were expressed candidly to amuse rather than to harm.

She was also a great organiser not only of Michael’s life, but of that of others. In the mid-1980s, when I told her that my wife planned a move to the country and that I would have to find a flat in London, she immediately said ‘Dorset and Baron’s Court’ and that was precisely where we ended up.

At a large party at the Vintners’ Hall to celebrate Michael’s 80th birthday, Daphne considered lapel badges as unsuitable and solved the problem of many guests not knowing each other’s names by fixing the badges to their backs.

Decanter readers fortunate enough to meet Daphne Broadbent at tastings or book signings will know that she was a joy to be with. She will be very deeply missed.

Alongside Michael, Daphne Broadbent leaves behind her son, Bartholomew, who runs the Broadbent Selections wine import business in the US, and also her daughter Emma, a judge who is married to former Member of Parliament James Arbuthnot.

(Additional reporting by Chris Mercer)

Explore More
Steven Spurrier
Steven Spurrier
Decanter Magazine, Consultant Editor
Decanter’s consultant editor Steven Spurrier joined the wine trade in London in 1964 and later moved to Paris where he bought a wine shop in 1971, and then opened L’Academie du Vin, France’s first private wine school in 1973. Spurrier staged the historic 1976 blind tasting between wines from California and France, the Judgment of Paris, and in the 1980s he wrote several wine books and created the Christie’s Wine Course with then senior wine director Michael Broadbent, a veteran Decanter columnist. In 1988 Spurrier returned to the UK to focus on writing and consultancy, with his clients including Singapore Airlines. He has won several awards, including Le Personalité de l’Année (oenology) 1988 for services to French wine and the Maestro Award in honour of California wine legend André Tchelistcheff (2011) and is president of the Circle of Wine Writers as well as founding the Wine Society of India. He also produced his own wine, Bride Valley Brut, from his vines in Dorset.