Steven Spurrier

Steven Spurrier (5 October 1941 – 9 March 2021) was a British wine expert and merchant who was described as a champion of French wine. Spurrier organised the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, which unexpectedly elevated the status of California wine and promoted the expansion of wine production in the New World. He was the founder of the Academie du Vin and Christie's Wine Course, in addition to authoring and co-authoring several wine books.

Early life Spurrier was born in Cambridge on 5 October 1941 to John and Pamela Spurrier. His father joined his family's sand-and-gravel business in Derbyshire after the Second World War. Spurrier was educated at Rugby School, before studying at the London School of Economics. His interest in wine was first piqued after drinking 1908 Cockburn's Port when he was 13 years old. which achieved recognition as a highly regarded specialist wine shop.

Spurrier sold his wine interests in France and returned to the UK in 1988, becoming a wine consultant and journalist. He was director of The Christie’s Wine Course, which he founded with Christie's Education in 1982. In 2018, he starred in the documentary SOMM 3 alongside Jancis Robinson where he discussed the Judgement of Paris while tasting some of the world's finest wines. In 2019, he founded the Academie du Vin Library with Simon McMurtrie to publish wine writing. The Library published the latest edition of his memoir in 2020.

Awards Spurrier received several international awards for wine writing including Le Prix de Champagne Lanson and the Bunch Prize, both for articles published in Decanter. In 2001 he was awarded Le Grand Prix de l’Academie Internationale du Vin and The Maestro Award in honor of Andre Tchelistcheff. In 1988 he was made Le Personalite de l’Annee (Oenology) for his services to French wine. He has also received the Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore Lifetime Achievement Award and the Prix Louis Marinier. He was a regular judge on the international wine tasting circuit and the chairman of the Japan Wine Challenge and the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Personal life Spurrier was married to the former Bella Lawson from 1968 until his death. Together, they had two children: Christian and Kate.

Spurrier died from cancer on 9 March 2021, at his home in the Bride Valley English Wine Estate, in Litton Cheney, Dorset. He was 79.