John Radford judging@The 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards
Very sad to learn this morning that John died recently of heart failure aged 65. (I believe he died on 19th October and there was a quiet family funeral.)
A great and generous character, a fine wine writer – amongst the very best. Spain had the good fortune to have his love and attention – a wonderful and very professional ambassador for Spanish wines. How very distant from the tawdry goings on in parts of Spain exposed at the end of last year.
John had been in declining health for a number of years but this did not quench his enthusiasm. Unfortunately he was involved, through no fault of his, in a very serious car accident involving a lorry at the end of the 1990s and this may have been a contributory factor.
The October edition of Circle Update, the newsletter of the Circle of Wine Writers, will be published next Wednesday and will feature appreciations and tributes to John. If anyone would like to contribute memories of John, please email them to me by Tuesday morning to budmac@btinternet.com
Will certainly be raising this evening a copita or so of Sherry to his memory.
John presenting Alejandro Fernández with bottle of Bollinger
@Circle of Wine Writers tasting of the wines of Pesquera in 2008
John Radford: The New Spain
Miguel
Torres on the publication of John Radford's The New Spain in 1998:
‘This image of Spanish winemaking, the
modern reality, is what the reader will find in the pages of The New Spain. For
many years, John Radford has had a special interest in Spanish wines, as
evidenced by his work in all the major English-language wine magazines in
Europe, as well as his television and radio career. No one but John, a genuine
Hispanophile and an enthusiast for every Spanish region, could have written
this comprehensive, contemporary, complex but very enjoyable review of the
wines of Spain.’
**
John's entry in Wikipedia (although it neglects to include John's various appearances in Christmas panto):
After a background in the food and drink industry and retail, Radford's
writing career started with children's comics, principally for the Dundee
publishing house of D.C. Thomson, with Judy comic for girls, for which
he wrote a good deal of the annuals from 1978 to 1985 as well as the weekly
paper. He also wrote for the same publisher's science fiction series Starblazer,
and contributed to other publications, including a series of stories about Dixon
Hawke the Dover Street Detective for the Dundee Sporting Post.
He began lecturing about wine whilst in the wine trade, from 1975, and
started writing about wine from 1977. His first regular column was in 1981 in
the Coventry Evening Telegraph and this
was subsequently syndicated to local dailies around the UK. He also contributed
wine articles to Decanter Magazine from 1985, as well as writing general
features for regional and county glossies and business magazines.
As a result of his perceived interest in Spain, he was commissioned by
ICEX, the Spanish Embassy Commercial Office in London, to write the trade/press
textbook for Spanish wines The Spanish Wine Education Notes, which
appeared bi-annually from 1989 to 2001, after which ICEX took it in-house and
it went online.
In 1997 he was commissioned by the publisher Mitchell Beazley to write a
new and definitive consumer guide to Spanish wines - The New Spain.
Since then his books have a won a number of international awards. The New
Spain (1998) won the Glenfiddich "Drinks Book of the year" and the
Prix de Champagne Lanson
"European Wine Book of the year" awards, as well as 'Best European
Wine Book' at the Livre Gourmand Awards in Versailles, and was awarded the
silver medal of the Gastronomische Akademie Deutschland.
His 2004 book The Wines of Rioja also won the Livre Gourmand award for
"Best European Wine Book". In 2006 he was awarded the Premio Especial
Alimentos de España in Madrid for his continuing work on Spanish food and wine,
and he is a member of the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino. His most recent
book Cook España, Drink España, written in collaboration with chef Mario
Sandoval of Restaurante Coque
in Humanes de Madrid was published in October 2007. In November it won the
Livre Gourmand Award 2008 for 'Best European Wine Book Outside France'. In
December 2007 it was shortlisted in the top three for 'Best Wine Book in the
World (outside France)', and went on to win the world title at Olympia, London
on 13 April 2008.
Radford writes articles for a number of UK
wine publications, including Harpers, Drinks
International and Off-Licence News (all trade publications) and Gourmetour,
Decanter, Wine Press (Beijing) as
well as other consumer publications.
In March 2007, the first issue of Yes Chef! magazine was
published, with a launch at Harvey Nichols in London, and Radford as editor.
The magazine was quarterly and aimed at kitchen and restaurant professionals as
well as interested amateur cooks. In 2011 it was relaunched as the bi-monthy Chef
magazine, with Radford as Consultant Editor. In addition he continues to write
mostly wine-related articles for magazines in the UK and abroad.
Broadcasting
Radford has appeared on several wine-related British television shows
including A Question of Taste which ran from 1997 to 1998 on Carlton
Food Network, hosted by Russell Grant.
From April 2006 until August 2009 he worked as a local radio presenter
for Splash
FM in Worthing.
Selected bibliography
- 2011 RIOJA REVISITED
(e-book updating THE WINES OF RIOJA)
- 2011 THE WINES OF
RIOJA (republished as an e-book)
- 2010 THE ULTIMATE WINE
COMPANION (Sterling Epicure, New York - Spanish chapter)
- 2009 COMPANION GUIDE
TO THE WINES OF THE WORLD (New edition - Spanish chapter)
- 2009 COOK ESPAÑA,
DRINK ESPAÑA (American edition)
- 2008 WINE REPORT 2009
(Spanish chapter)
- 2007 WINE REPORT 2008
(Spanish chapter)
- 2007 COMER EN ESPAÑA,
BEBER EN ESPAÑA (Spanish language version)
- 2007 COOK ESPAÑA,
DRINK ESPAÑA (with Mario Sandoval)
- 2007 GREAT WINE TOURS
OF THE WORLD (New edition - Spanish chapters)
- 2006 WINE REPORT 2007
(Spanish chapter)
- 2005 WINE REPORT 2006
(Spanish chapter)
- 2004 VINOS DE ESPAÑA -
Spanish Translation of THE NEW SPAIN (New Edition)
- 2004 THE NEW SPAIN
(New Edition)
- 2004 THE WINES OF
RIOJA
- 2004 COMPANION GUIDE
TO THE WINES OF THE WORLD (Spanish chapter)
- 2004 WINE REPORT 2005
(Spanish chapter)
- 2003 WINE REPORT 2004
(Spanish chapter)
- 2002 THE SPANISH WINE
EDUCATION NOTES
- 2002 DE WIJNEN VAN
SPANJE - Dutch translation of THE NEW SPAIN
- 2002 GREAT WINE TOURS
OF THE WORLD (Spanish chapters)
- 2001 GYLDENDALS BOG OM
DE SPANSKE VINE Danish translation of THE NEW SPAIN
- 2001 A CENTURY OF WINE
(Spanish chapter)
- 2000 GLOBAL
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WINE (Spanish and Portuguese chapters)
- 2000 A CENTURY OF WINE
(Mitchell Beazley, London - Spanish chapter)
- 2000 POCKET BOOK OF
FORTIFIED AND SWEET WINES (with Stephen Brook - fortified wines)
- 1999 WEINLANDSCHAFT
SPANIEN - German translation of THE NEW SPAIN
- 1998 THE NEW SPAIN
Awards
- 2008 Best Wine Book in
the world, Livre Gourmand Awards (London)
- 2007 Best European
Wine Book, Livre Gourmand Awards (France)
- 2005 Premio Especial
Alimentos de España (Spain)
- 2005 Best European
Wine Book, Livre Gourmand Awards (France)
- 2000 Silver medal,
Gastrononmische Akademie Deutschlands (Germany)
- 1999 Best European
Wine Book, Livre Gourmand Awards (France)
- 1999 Prix de Champagne
Lanson, Best European wine book (UK)
- 1999 Glenfiddich
Award, Best European wine book (UK)
- 1996 Gran Orden de
Caballeros del Vino, elected to membership (Spain)
April 2010: John@Enoteca Turi, Putney, London during DWWA regional chairs' lunch
