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Remembering Patrick Grubb MW: 1932-2024
Former Sotheby’s wine director, Madeira expert, and Master of Wine, Patrick Grubb died on 23 March, leaving behind his wife, Jennie, and two sons, Hugo and Harry.
The Institute of Masters of Wine has written the following words about Patrick’s impressive career in wine:
Patrick Grubb passed the MW exam in 1958 aged 26, the youngest to have attained the title by that time. Respected and recognised by his colleagues, Patrick was chair of the education committee, then chair of the IMW 1976-77, and in 2018 enjoyed his 60-year MW celebration at Vintner’s Hall. During his career he was also selected for membership of numerous wine fraternities including La Commanderie du Bontemps de Medoc et des Graves, La Jurade de Saint-Emilion, and La Confrerie St. Etienne. In 1984 he was also inducted into the Confraria do Vinho do Porto as an Honorary Confrade and Cavaleiro (or Knight), having been proposed as a member by Quinta do Noval Vinhos, SA.
Born in Malaya, the son of a rubber planter, Patrick attended Wellington College in Berkshire before entering the wine industry in 1952, commencing a 76 year love affair with wine. His first experience was in Bordeaux, as ‘Stage’ with the prominent French wine shipping company Sichel & Co. His first role included him picking grapes alongside Corsican migrant workers, with some of the more roguish workers knife-fighting around the campfires in the evenings. It was here that Patrick became truly fluent in French, a skill that served him well throughout his career.
On returning to England he began his lengthy career with Hedges & Butler in London and then Hay & Son in Sheffield. Hay & Son were subsequently acquired by JLP Lebegue & Co, where Patrick remained for a decade and rose to Deputy Managing Director. During this time, in addition to having already been commissioned during National Service, he was also commissioned into the Honourable Artillery Company in 1954, which then became a venue for many of his Madeira tastings in later life.
In 1973 he was invited to join Sotheby, Park & Burnett (Sotheby’s) as Director and Head of their wine department. It was whilst at Sotheby’s that he was first approached to be the chief auctioneer for the then embryonic Nederburg wine auction in South Africa, which he continued to enjoy working with for the next thirty-three years. During this time Patrick also established and sponsored a bursary programme for young black South Africans entering the wine industry to study wine making abroad, principally in France. He also led auctions in Sonoma County, California, in Boston, Maine, USA, and charity auctions in Grand Cayman, for Docklands Settlements in London, and numerous others.
On leaving Sotheby’s in 1986 Patrick joined Fine Vintage Wines in Sloane Street, London, and in 1987 Patrick moved with his family to Oxfordshire where he established Patrick Grubb Selections, which he ran until his retirement aged 82, and where he imported French, Californian, New Zealand, and South African wines. Most of all, however, and perhaps the specialty for which he became most known, was his focus on Madeira – an enduring passion of his.
Throughout his life Patrick was known for his gentility, kindness, generosity, and chivalrous nature, with his daughter-in-law even nicknaming him the “walking honeypot” because of his warm, sweet and kind nature.
Patrick is survived by his wife, Jennie, and two sons, Hugo and Harry.
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Please pass my better-late-than never commiserations to Jenny. I stayed with them in their Waterloo Terrace house. If she wishes to contact me I’m at icanbegot@yahoo.co.uk.
ROBIN WILMOT