A Remembrance: Howard Goldberg - Wine & Spirits Magazine

A Remembrance: Howard Goldberg


Howard Goldberg

The last time I saw Howard Goldberg was in July of 2018, just after his wife, Beatrice, passed away. They had been together close to 50 years and Howard was deeply moved by his loss. We met for coffee on 113th Street, on the Upper West Side; it was his native land. Howard brought a sad smile and a wistful remembrance of Beatrice; she had accompanied him to any number of wine events in New York, which is how I knew her; she had also accompanied him to many New York Times events during his tenure as an editor there starting in 1970, and later as a wine writer for the paper beginning in 1984. Howard himself had accompanied so many of us on the wine writer circuit at seminars, tastings and dinners, bringing his wit, his gentle charm and his pointed intellect.

Howard passed away early in January, leaving an empty seat in that small, tight community of wine, a seat no one could ever fill with the same New York sense of humor and grace. In his memory, we’d like to present several of the humor stories Howard wrote for Wine & Spirits, which might bring a sad smile today, but a smile, nonetheless.


Illustration by Darcy Muenchrath
Illustration by Beata Szpura

Joshua Greene is the editor and publisher of Wine & Spirits magazine.


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