I was terribly saddened to hear of the death on Sunday of the Wellington wine writer Raymond Chan. Raymond finally succumbed to cancer after determinedly keeping the illness at bay, with the unflagging support of his partner Sue Davies, for many years.
Raymond won an enormous circle of friends with his cheeky humour and zest for life. It was a measure of the respect and affection he enjoyed in wine circles that in 2016, friends and associates chipped in to pay for treatment with the very expensive immunotherapy drug Keytruda.
Underneath that infectious wit, which remained irrepressible even when he was experiencing the roller-coaster ride of cancer treatment, Raymond was an extremely serious and knowledgeable wine judge and critic. He wrote about the subject with eloquence and great authority, never resorting to the pretentious excesses of winespeak. Wine industry events won't be quite the same without him.
Joelle Thomson has written an obituary for Raymond on the Regional Wines website here.
Very sad to hear this though I knew it was coming. Raymond taught me much of what I know about wine when he worked at Regional Wines in the 90s. He was a great guy and a wonderful teacher. Also, one of the most reliable (perhaps even the best) of NZ wine writers/critics. He will be missed.
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