PENNING-ROWSELL, Edmund 1913-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born March 16, 1913, in London, England; died March 4, 2002. Wine expert, journalist, and author. Penning-Rowsell was a well-known oenophile who wrote a regular column on wine for the London Financial Times. Born to well-to-do parents, he was forced to abandon his formal education when a worldwide economic depression put the family in financial straights during the 1930s. Finding a job in the library for the Morning Post, he worked there from 1930 to 1935. What followed was an unremarkable career in publishing with the company Frederick Muller. During World War II Penning-Rowsell was a corporal in the British Signal Corps, and then returned to work for Muller before becoming a sales manager for B. T. Batsford during the 1950s. Penning-Rowsell eventually worked as a publishing director for Hulton Press, a position he enjoyed but ultimately lost in 1963 when the publisher replaced him with a family member. The abrupt loss of his job led to better things, however, when Penning-Rowsell turned his love of wines into a new career. A member, and later chairman, of the Wine Society, he had become an expert on the subject and found work writing a column on wine for the Financial Times. His columns were innovative for their time, setting a new style in wine writing: rather than simply describing wines and the experience of wine-drinking as earlier writers had, Penning-Rowsell counseled readers on which wines were superior and which vintages to buy. He published some of his advice in the books Red, White, Rosé and The Wines of Bordeaux; he also edited Château Latour: The History of a Great Vineyard, 1331-1992.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Who's Who 2000, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), March 7, 2002, p. 6. Times (London, England), March 5, 2002.