IntoWineTV's resident wine expert, Bartholomew Broadbent is the Founder and CEO of Broadbent Selections, a San Francisco based firm that is the exclusive US national importer for some of the finest small, family owned wineries from around the world. Producers represented by Broadbent Selections include Chateau Musar, Warwick Estate, Spy Valley, Ferreira, Barca Velha, Quinta do Crasto, Aresti, Louis Guntrum, Domaine Riefle, Montsarra Cava, Pago de Larrainzar, Vilafonte, Dragon's Hollow and Champagne Delbeck. In particular, Broadbent Selections is known for pioneering wines from undiscovered regions as you will find wines from China, Duoro, Marlborough, Madeira, the Bekaa Valley in their portfolio.
Known as a lively, witty and informative wine lecturer, Bartholomew is also one of the world’s foremost authorities on Port and Madeira. He is credited for being responsible for the growth of Port consumption in North America during the mid 1980’s and was responsible for the re-introduction of Madeira to America in 1989, instrumental in its growth since then. He also produces his own Broadbent Port and Madeira in Portugal.
Raised in the English wine trade in a formal apprenticeship to his famous father, Michael Broadbent MW [Director of Christie’s and prolific wine author], Bartholomew has also worked in London for Harrod’s [Wine Department], Harvey’s Fine Wine Merchants in Pall Mall and Christie’s. He worked in Australia for Rothbury Estate and for Yalumba Winery. In France, he worked in Cognac for Hennessy and in Paris for L’Academie du Vin. He moved to Montreal to work for Schenley Canada Inc, later moving to Toronto as their Wine Consultant, also responsible for their fine wine sales in Ottawa.
In the United States, he set up Premium Port Wines, Inc. for the Symington family, which he ran for 10 years, before leaving to create Broadbent Selections, Inc in 1996. In 2006 he met David Henderson and set up a JV to launch Dragon's Hollow, the first good wine from China.
Among his many notable honors and achievements, Bartholomew was named by Decanter Magazine as one of the “fifty most influential people in the wine world - the faces to watch in the new millennium.” (June 1997). Moreover. Broadbent Selections was nominated for Importer of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2005.
