Berry Bros & Rudd rebuilds

I had lunch with Lizzy Rudd in the historic boardroom of Berry Bros & Rudd recently thanks to the president of the Nebraska World Affairs Council. Last August he wrote to me out of the blue asking whether Britain’s oldest wine and spirit merchant has an archivist. He subsequently explained, ‘my wife at one time had an antiquarian book and ephemera business, called Vin & Gastronomie. So we have a great respect for wine archives.’

This opened up a correspondence between me and the current Chair of Berry Bros &...