The death has just been announced of John Cossart (chairman of Henriques & Henriques Madeira), who died of a sudden heart attack in the early hours of yesterday morning on the island of Madeira, which had been his home since he returned to run the Henriques & Henriques Madeira business following the death of his own father. He had been in London only last week at the annual tasting of his UK agents Mentzendorff.
Andrew Hawes of Mentzendorff commented that “all those who knew John, and that is a very great number across the wine trade globally, will remember him very fondly as one of the great characters in our business – his stories of his own life and great insights into the development of the international wine trade were fascinating, but more than that he was a lovely man and we will all miss him greatly, it is truly the end of an era.”
Like Bill Baker who died suddenly recently, he was only 53. His funeral will be held on Madeira this Friday, Feb 29.