Vines’s close friend Pierre Koffmann, whom he briefly ran a website and restaurant review column with, confirmed his passing.
In a short statement, Koffmann wrote: “RIP @richard.vines 🖤💔 THE REST IS SILENCE.”
The news was also confirmed on Vines’s own Instagram account.
Vines was a writer and broadcaster with more than 40 years’ experience, including 25 years at Bloomberg.
His career saw him work on the foreign desk at The Times, as an editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, and as foreign editor of South China Morning Post.
During this time, he interviewed a number of political leaders including Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and South Africa president Nelson Mandela.
He joined Bloomberg in 1995 as a markets editor and was named chief food critic of the publication in 2008, a post he held until his retirement in 2021.
Vines served as UK chair of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants for several years during his tenure reporting on restaurants.
He was also once the recipient of the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Award for online restaurant writer of the year.
Following his retirement, Vines remained a visible presence in the industry. He joined forces with Koffmann, his long time friend and a renowned French chef (pictured above on the left), to launch Koffmann & Vines, a website featuring weekly restaurant reviews that ran between late 2021 and mid-2022.
More recently he published comment pieces and travel columns on his own website, Vines Dines.
Paying tribute to Vines in an Instagram post, Xanthe Clay, food writer and current UK chair of The World’s 50 Best, wrote: “Dear Richard, funny, irreverent, kind, loyal, and a first class journalist.
“Thank you for being my friend for sixteen years. Miss you. To the bartender in Heaven: don’t try and give Richard Prosecco. Trust me.”
In his own post, chef Jason Atherton said he was ‘devastated’ to hear of Vines’s passing.
He said: “We are devastated to learn of Richard’s passing. Our industry has lost one of the truly good guys today, one of the loveliest people you could ever meet.
“Richard was deeply loyal, incredibly kind, and someone who supported me as a young chef when I was still growing, helping me in so many ways.
“As a true critic at Bloomberg, he only ever shared positive energy and encouragement. More than that, he was a true friend. Richard, rest in peace, my friend. You will be deeply and truly missed.”
Also writing on Instagram, Sauce Communications co-founder Jo Barnes described Vines as a true one off.
“The kindest, most honourable colleague and friend. I have loved working and partying with you these past 25 years and will miss you deeply. If heaven exists, I know you will be sat at the best table in the house, glass of Champagne in hand.”