A Dinosaur Roars
On the Mark Squires Bulletin Board (part of eRobert Parker.com) Jamie Goode of
www.wineanorak.com posted a note about comments apparently made by Michael Broadbent MW including the comment “What concerns me is this ‘global taste’ being forced on us”. This generated considerable discussion. Now Mark Squires is certainly no lover of British wine critics like Jancis Robinson or Broadbent and he posted this

“To me, Broadbent is a dinosaur. He has long since reached a point where his views seem reactionary. I wonder at this point how effective his tasting is. We were talking in another thread about the science of smell--that maybe 50% of the people over 65 lose 50% or more of their sense of smell. Maybe there is a reason why he remembers the '40s fondly.

I say that partly in jest--but partly not.

What is clear to me is that the Old School, best epitomized by a few British M.W.s., is dug in hard and tries to make the rules for everyone. Anyone who departs from them is a heathen. Their frustration is that Parker has pretty ignored them--and succeeded in influencing people more than they have.” (The full post can be found about a third of the way down this page.)

Things seemed to have gone quiet, and then a post appeared (on the top of this page) from Bartholomew Broadbent containing a reply from his father. The Dinosaur roared and while Squires may be unrepentant he certainly got chewed around the edges. At least Squires can now say that Broadbent finally knows who he is. Its just a guess but I’ll bet that Mr Squires thought that Mr Broadbent already knew all about him, what wif ‘im bein’ RP's lacky an all.