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Remembering David Burns MW: 1928-2022
The youngest person to achieve the title of Master of Wine, and the longest-serving MW in the world, died last month at the age of 94.
In 1956, aged just 28, David Burns was awarded the MW title, which was created by the Vintners Company and The Wine and Spirit Association of Great Britain.
It had been introduced by the organisation with the objective of setting a standard, not only of expertise but also of integrity, which would achieve regard, respect, and reputation throughout the worldwide wine industry. There are currently only 415 Masters of Wine in the world.
In 1963 he chaired the Masters of Wine while working for Geo. Idle, Chapman & Co and was at his death the organisation’s oldest member. Even after retiring in 1993, he continued to attend MW tasting functions in London, helping students sitting their examinations with his amazing knowledge of everything grape.
Daughter Jennie Hillman said: “His passion for wine was born from how magical he thought the natural process was of turning the simple grape into something as delicious, complex and beautiful as wine.”
“He was also instrumental in setting up the code of conduct for the profession. Until this was established some wine shippers were able to get away with putting just any old plonk into bottles!”
Educated in Stowe, David entered the wine and spirits trade after leaving the army in 1949. He had served with the Royal Dragoon Guards, seeing service in Palestine.
He started as a trainee, bottling claret in the cellars of JLP Lebègue, prestigious shippers of Bordeaux and Burgundy. He progressed to become a sales rep, selling to hotels and restaurants in London and the south-west.
David left Lebègue in 1956 to join a highly reputable family business with the brief to develop its wine business. This venture prospered to the extent that it was taken over and became part of a very large national enterprise.
One of David’s last projects for the business was to set up a production and storage depot in a 200,000 square foot warehouse that had formerly been the Handley Pare aircraft factory in Cricklewood.
The project was the first experiment by HM Customs and Excise of what they described as an ‘open‘ bond, an operation that would operate without the permanent presence of a customs officer. This required the compilation of a several hundred-page operating manual which David had to write for the approval of the office of HM Customs at King’s Beam House.
He went on to found his own company – David Burns Vitners – with wife Diana, after his golfing partner mentioned during a round that he was involved in the sale of Long’s Wine Lodges, a small group of wine bars in the New Forest.
David based the expansion of the business on giving wine tastings which were barely heard of at that time. It was an opportune moment because of the advent of so-called New World wines, which David could speak about having already visited California, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.
These tastings became very popular. An annual event at Chewton Glen Hotel, in New Milton, became so popular it had to be staged over two days. There was one extraordinary evening in the Motor Museum at Beaulieu where over six hundred people tasted vintage wines amidst vintage cars.
Over the next decade the company expanded and thrived, opening shops and wine bars in the area. An innovator, David began to stage Winemakers evenings using the contacts he had developed over the years with wine growers around the world.
These were hosted by top hotels and restaurants across the South of England and featured growers, proprietors, winemkakers from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, the Moselle, Tuscany, Jerez, Portugal, New Zealand and Australia.
David and Diana had by then become close friends of Derek and Audrey Todd. Derek became Chairman of Grants of St James, the wholesale wine and spirit division of Allied Breweries. His vision was to set up a regional network of specialist wine merchants backed by the resources of Allied trading as independent profit centres managed by wine specialists of individuality and personality – the sort of operation that David had created.
Eventually David sold his company to Grants, staying on as a consultant before finally retiring in 1993. His other passions in life were opera, golf, and cricket. He was a member of the MCC at Lords for 60 years.
He is survived by widow Diana and daughters Juliet and Jennie.