Jancis Robinson – the long version

 

Jancis on her life in wine...

After a virtually wine-free childhood and teenage years in a village of 46 people in northern Cumbria just south of the Scottish border, I was introduced to wine at Oxford, where I read Maths & Philosophy while being delightedly exposed to fine food and wine for the first time. I had long been fascinated by food so it was a very short step to fall in love with wine – something that happened over a glass of Chambolle-Musigny, Les Amoureuses 1959. What really appealed to me about wine was that it combned huge sensual pleasure with real intellectual stimulation. I just knew that in that glass was history, geography, psychology, creativity and a heck of a lot of science.

But at that time the subjects of food and wine were regarded as irredeemably frivolous so I spent three years in the travel business, as a graduate trainee with Britain’s biggest holiday company. A lifelong aversion to meetings sent me off on a year in Provence, surrounded by vineyards and people to whom eating and drinking were indeed what life was all about. On my return to London I was determined to find a job in either food or wine.

My wine writing career began on 1 December 1975, virtually pre-history as far as modern wine is concerned, when I started as assistant editor of the British wine trade magazine Wine & Spirit. Since then I've been lucky enough to travel all over the world of wine (which nowadays includes Asia – a continent I never thought back in the 1970s that wine would help me explore) learning that our expanding wine world is inhabited by some of the most colourful and interesting characters that ever walked the earth.

Perhaps more important is the fact that what they produce, which was always pretty romantic, fascinating and heartwarmingly earthy, is nowadays far more reliably delicious than it ever was. When I started out, it was remarkable if a wine smelt clean and not of sulphur or dirty filterpads. Today, hardly any wines are technically faulty (even though an awful lot of them are dull).

There's a lot to be said about price and value as they relate to wine. I don’t believe there is an absolute correlation between wine’s price and quality. There are many delicious wines that don’t cost a great deal, while there are hundreds of overpriced bottles carrying price tags that have been conjured out of the air by some hopeful marketeer or winery owner.

Should you by any chance want to know in even more detail about how I got from being someone who couldn't type but somehow wangled their way on to a wine trade magazine to running a website with members from more than 80 countries, you could plough your way through my autobiographical memoir known as Tasting Pleasure in the US and Confessions of a Wine Lover everywhere else.

For the brief version of my bio, see here. For a longer summary of key events, see immediately below, or choose one of the following options: swot, prolific author, the groaning mantelpiece, non-bimbo broadcaster, well-rounded person, warm and cuddly human being with an unusual name.

A summary

Key elements below are in bold

1968-71 MA in Maths and Philosophy, Oxford University
1971-74 Marketing, Thomson Holidays
1974-75 Provence
1976-80 Editor, Wine & Spirit trade monthly magazine (Haymarket Publishing)
1977-80 Co-publisher and author of Drinker’s Digest newsletter
1978 Winner of the Rouyer-Guillet cup as top Diploma student, Wine & Spirit Education Trust
1979 The Wine Book 1980-86 Wine correspondent, The Sunday Times of London
1980 Which? Wine Guide 1981 for the Consumers’ Association
1981 Which? Wine Guide 1982
1982 The Great Wine Book
1983 Masterglass
1983 Writer/presenter of The Wine Programme (Channel 4), world’s first tv series on wine
1984 Master of Wine, first person outside the trade to pass these demanding exams
1985 Writer/presenter of The Wine Programme (Channel 4), second series
1986 Vines, Grapes & Wines1987 Writer/presenter of The Wine Programme (Channel 4), third series
1987 Writer/presenter of Jancis Robinson Meets ... (Thames TV)
1987-89 Wine correspondent London Evening Standard
1987 Jancis Robinson’s Food & Wine Adventures
1988 The Demon Drink
1989 Producer/writer/presenter of Matters of Taste (C4) about Elizabeth David
1989-95 Columnist, Wine Spectator
1989 Vintage Timecharts
1990- Wine correspondent, the Financial Times
1991 Producer/writer/presenter of Matters of Taste (C4)
1992 Producer/writer/presenter of Vintners' Tales (BBC)
1994 The Oxford Companion to Wine, 1st edn
1994 Co-host of Grape Expectations (US TV Food Network)
1995 Producer/writer/presenter Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course (BBC) and eponymous book 1995 Co-host of Grape Expectations (US TV Food Network), second series
1995-2010 Wine consultant, British Airways
1997 Confessions of a Wine Lover/Tasting Pleasure, a professional memoir
1997 Writer/presenter of The Food Chain (BBC)
1998 Producer/writer/presenter of Vintners' Tales (BBC), second series
1999 Guide to the Best Portuguese Wines
1999 Writer/presenter of Taste with Jancis Robinson (BBC)
1999 The Oxford Companion to Wine, 2nd edn
2000 The Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America, consultant editor
2000- Bi-monthly syndicated columnist for publications around the world including Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine
2000- JancisRobinson.com, updated daily
2001 Jancis Robinson’s Concise Wine Companion 
2001 The World Atlas of Wine, 5th edn, with Hugh Johnson
2002 How to Taste/Jancis Robinson’ Wine Tasting Workbook
2003 Made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen
2004 Joined the Royal Household Wine Committee advising on the Queen’s cellar
2003 Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course , 2nd edn
2006 The Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd edn
2007 The World Atlas of Wine, 6th edn, with Hugh Johnson
2008 How to Taste/How to Taste Wine, 2nd edn
2010 Made Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the French Minister of Agriculture
2011- Honorary President of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust
2012 Wine Grapes,with Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz
  Given an Order of Merit by the Portuguese government
  Freeman Honoris Causa of the Vintners' Company
2013 The World Atlas of Wine, 7th edn, with Hugh Johnson
2015 The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th edn
2016 The 24-Hour Wine Expert        
        Mastering wine – Jancis Robinson's shortcuts to success online wine course
       Made Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the French Minister of Agriculture
       Awarded the VDP's Golden Pin in Germany
2018 Launch of the all-purpose wine glass (and decanters) with Richard Brendon
2019 The World Atlas of Wine, 8th edn, with Hugh Johnson
2021 Sale of JancisRobinson.com to Recurrent Ventures
2022 Jancis Robinson - An Understanding of Wine BBC Maestro online wine course

... swot

2016 Honorary Fellow of the University of Cumbria

1997 Honorary Doctorate of The Open University, a great British institution founded by the Labour government in 1971 whereby people of all ages and conditions can study for a university degree. At the ceremony at which I was awarded the honour of being able to call myself Dr Robinson, there were scores of graduates with serious disabilities and one who was collecting his degree on his 80th birthday.

1988 onwards I got hooked in to the Oxford University Press book factory to edit the first (and second, third and fourth) Oxford Companion to Wine: an honour for me and for wine, I felt, to follow in the distinguished path pioneered by the late Sir Paul Harvey and the first ever Oxford Companion, The Oxford Companion to English Literature published in 1932.

1984 I took and, more amazingly, passed the Master of Wine exams, becoming the first non wine trade person to earn the letters MW after their name. There are now over 300 MWs worldwide and exams are held each year in London, the US and Australia. This fiendishly difficult qualification involves almost a week of exams, both theoretical and 'practical' (ie blind tasting). One day I'll explain why on earth I subjected myself to this ordeal – though I think being pregnant helped rather than hindered, as witness my doing especially well in the tasting papers. For more information on the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) see www.masters-of-wine.org.

1976-78 I rapidly set to all of the wine trade exams organised by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. This outfit is based in London but is now the world’s dominant wine educator. I joked at the time there'd probably be a question in the first, Certificate exam: 'Valpolicella is a) red, b) white or c) rosé' and there was in fact one that went 'Valpolicella is a) French, b) Spanish or c) Italian'. The WSET seems to be in a state of constant change but it does cover the ground in a very professional way, and their courses always include tasting as well as more arid instruction.

1968-71 Maths and Philosophy at St Anne's College, Oxford. I was one of the first three undergraduates ever to tackle this strange new arts-science hybrid.

1961-68 Carlisle and Country High School for Girls. Head girl, following in novelist Margaret Forster’s footsteps.

... prolific author

I am never quite sure how many books I have written. The first one happened, as everything else in my career, by accident. A book packager read an article about me in the Guardian and asked me to do a synopsis of an introduction to wine for him. Once I’d done it, he said his bosses disapproved of alcohol. Unwilling to waste the effort, I showed it to a friend in publishing who introduced me to the literary agent Caradoc King of AP Watt (of whom I am one of his oldest authors) who promptly sold it back to my friend.

Here’s a list of the books I can remember, most recent first with those currently in print in bold. See also books & DVDs.

The Oxford Companion to Wine (5th edn 2023 OUP) with Julia Harding MW and Tara Q Thomas

The World Atlas of Wine (8th edn 2019 Mitchell Beazley) with Hugh Johnson

The 24-Hour Wine Expert (2016 Penguin/Abrams)

The Oxford Companion to Wine (4th edn 2015 OUP)

The World Atlas of Wine (7th edn 2013 Mitchell Beazley) with Hugh Johnson

American Wine (2013 Mitchell Beazley/University of California Press) with Linda Murphy

Wine Grapes – A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours (2012 Allen Lane/Ecco) with Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz

The Concise World Atlas of Wine (2009 Mitchell Beazley) with Hugh Johnson

How to Taste/How to Taste Wine (new edn Nov 2008, Simon & Schuster/Conran Octopus)

The World Atlas of Wine (6th edn 2007, Mitchell Beazley and, subsequently, many other publishers around the world) with Hugh Johnson

The Oxford Companion to Wine (3rd edn 2006, OUP and, subsequently, several other publishers) editor

Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course (2nd edn 2003, BBC Books and Abbeville Press)

How to Taste/Jancis Robinson’ Wine tasting Workbook (2002, Simon & Schuster/Conran Octopus)

The World Atlas of Wine (5th edn 2001, Mitchell Beazley and, subsequently, many other publishers around the world)

Jancis Robinson’s Concise Wine Companion (2001 OUP) with Julia Harding

The Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America (2000 OUP) consultant editor

The Oxford Companion to Wine (2nd edn 1999, OUP and subsequently others) editor

Guide to the Best Portuguese Wines (1999 Livros Cotovia)

Tasting Pleasure/Confessions of a Wine Lover (1997, Viking Penguin USA/Viking Penguin)

Jancis Robinson’s Guide to Wine Grapes (1996 OUP and subsequently others)

Jancis Robinson’s WineCourse (1995, BBC Books and subsequently others)

The Oxford Companion to Wine (1st edition 1994, OUP and subsequently others)

Vintage Timecharts (1989 Mitchell Beazley and subsequently others)

The Demon Drink (1988 Mitchell Beazley and Mandarin)

Jancis Robinson’s Food & Wine Adventures (1987 Headline)

Vines, Grapes & Wines (1986 Mitchell Beazley and Alfred Knopf)

Masterglass (1983 Pan and subsequently others)

The Great Wine Book (1982 Sidgwick & Jackson)

Which? Wine Guide 1982 (1981, Consumers’ Association)

Which? Wine Guide 1981 (1980, Consumers’ Association)

The Wine Book (1979, A&C Black and Fontana)

...journalist

1980-1986 Sunday Times wine writer
1987-1988 Evening Standard wine writer
1990-         Financial Times wine writer

And from 2004 until the end of 2019, she wrote a bimonthly column that was syndicated to an array of publications around the world, of which the last roster was 

Gourmet Traveller WINE Magazine, Australia
Vines, Canada
Prazeres da Mesa, Brazil
Revista de Vinhos, Portugal
Vinforum, Norway
Czas Wina, Poland
Nikkei STYLE, Japan
Sommelier India
Noblesse, Korea
Wine Route, Serbia
Vince, Hungary
Noblesse, China

… the groaning mantelpiece

MAJOR PRE 1995 AWARDS TO JANCIS ROBINSON
1978 Rouyer Guillet Cup for top marks in Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma
1983 Glenfiddich Drink Book of the Year
1984 Glenfiddich Radio/Television Programme of the Year
1984 Glenfiddich Trophy
1984 Master of Wine
1985 Marques de Cáceres Award
1986 Glenfiddich Drink Writer and Food Writer of the Year (a unique double)
1986 Wine Guild of the United Kingdom Premier Award
1987 André Simon Memorial Award
1987 Clicquot Book of the Year (US)
1992 Glenfiddich Television Programme of the Year

1995 AWARDS TO THE OXFORD COMPANION TO WINE
André Simon Memorial Award (UK)
Clicquot Book of the Year (US)
Julia Child / International Association of Culinary Professionals (US)
Glenfiddich Award (UK)
James Beard Award (US)
Premio Langhe Ceretto (Italy)
Wine Guild of United Kingdom, Exceptional Certificate (UK)
Redwood Books Award, Book Design and Production Awards (UK)
Gold Medal, Academy of Gastronomy (Germany)

1995 AWARDS TO JANCIS ROBINSON
Eighth annual Wine Literary Award, from the Wine Appreciation Guild, San Francisco, US for 'an exceptional contribution to the literature of wine in the English language' (US)
Tenth Ruth Ellen Church Award, from the Midwest International Wine Exposition, Chicago, US 'created to recognize outstanding contributions to wine and food journalism' (US)
Catalan Agriculture Medal (Spain)

1996 AWARDS
Glenfiddich Drink Writer of the Year
1996 Glenfiddich Trophy for food and drink communicators (Britain's top award)
Voted second Woman of the Year for 'Celebrating Wine in American Life' Week by Women for WineSense (US)
Jancis Robinson's Wine Course voted Wine Book of the Year and Television Programme of the Year by the Wine Guild of the United Kingdom. Jancis Robinson also won the Wine Guild's overall Premier Award (UK)
Voted first Communicator of the Year by International Wine & Spirit Competition/Vinitaly (Italy/UK). Runners-up were Marvin Shanken, Wine Spectator and Decanter magazines.

1997 AWARD
Honorary Doctorate, The Open University (UK)
James Beard Award for Best Television Food Journalism for Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course (US)

1998 AWARD
Silver Medal, Academy of Gastronomy (Germany)

1999 AWARDS
Decanter magazine (Wo)Man of the Year (UK)
Women for WineSense Inspirational Award, LA Chapter's first Hall of Fame (US)
Glenfiddich Award for Best TV Programme (Vintners' Tales)
First (and only, as it turned out) Glenfiddich Award for TV Personality of the Year
Tasting Pleasure/Confessions of a Wine Lover wins Wine Writing Literary Award at Versailles World Cookbook Fair
Vintners' Tales wins Gold Award for wine TV programmes at the World Food Media Awards, Tasting Australia

2001 AWARDS
Florida Winefest André Simon Wine Writer's Award (2nd ever winner, after Robert Parker)
Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America shortlisted for a James Beard Award (US), André Simon Book Award (UK) and Lanson Award (UK)

2003 AWARDS
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Winner of the first-ever Pro Bono Vinum award from Wine International magazine
The Golden Vine Award (Tasting Australia)
Winner with Hugh Johnson of the Schweizer Goldlorbeeren for best wine book ( World Atlas of Wine) of 2003
Winner with Hugh Johnson of the German Gastronomic Academy's Silbermedaille, also for the Atlas

2004 AWARDS
Wine International's Pro Bonum Vinum Wine Personality
Favorita Award for a notable woman (tenth, and first non-Italian, recipient)
Premio Internazionale 'Casato Prime Donne'
The German Gastronomic Academy's top award, the Golden Feather, not given every year but given to the 2nd edn of Das Oxford Weinlexikon (Hallwag)

2007 AWARDS
Harpers Most Inspiring Wine Critic and Most Influential Wine Writer, eventually voted Most Inspiring Person in Drinks
Voted second Most Influential Person in the World of Wine by visitors to Decanter.com (after Robert Parker)
Premio EVA for women of achievement from the government of Navarra
The Oxford Companion to Wine chosen as the only drinks book among the James Beard Books Committee's '20 Essential Books to Build Your Culinary Library' chosen for the 20th anniversary of the James Beard Foundation

2008 AWARDS
Only wine writer to be shortlisted for Lifetime Achievement Award (won by Tim and Nina Zagat) in the first International Restaurant and Hotel Awards to be held June 2008 in Beverly Hills (US)
Inducted into Wine Media Guild Hall of Fame (US)
World Atlas of Wine given Special Hall of Fame Award for being the Best Book on Wine at Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2008
Voted Best Wine Journalist ‘by a landslide’ for ‘integrity as well as her willingness to listen’ in a poll of 300 key members of the US wine trade for Wine Business International, June 2008 (US)
Gastronomic Academy's Gold Medal presented to the 3rd German edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine (Germany)
World Atlas of Wine wins IACP (Institute of American Culinary Professionals) Cookbooks award for best book in the Wine, Beer and Spirits category (US)
Meininger Outstanding Achievement Award 2008 at Prowein (Germany)

2009 AWARD
Society of Wine Educators Grand Award (Sacramento) 2009 (US)

2010 AWARDS
JancisRobinson.com voted first-ever International Wine Website of the Year, Louis Roederer Wine Writers Awards 2010
Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole, French Minister of Agriculture (France)
Joint winner (with Michel Bettane of France) of the late Victor de la Serna Memorial Award, Royal Spanish Academy of Gastronomy (Spain)

2011 AWARDS
Hallwag Handbuch Wein , the much-revised German version of How to Taste, was awarded the Schweizer Silberlorbeeren Medaille by Historia Gastronomica Helvetica (Switzerland)
Voted third most powerful person in wine after Robert Parker, and Lorenzo Bencistà-Falorni, on Decanter.com
Goldene Traube Pannonien Award, Burgenland (Austria)
Chevalier du Tastevin, Château du Clos de Vougeot (France)

2012 AWARDS
Honorary President of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust
Comendador da Ordem do Mérito Empresarial (Order of Merit, Portugal)
Drinks Business second most powerful woman in wine (after Gina Gallo)

2013 AWARDS
Freeman Honoris Causa of The Vintners' Company for services to wine
Wine Consumer Seal of Excellence
One of six inaugural Riesling Fellows

2015 AWARDS
Best Communicator of Wine according to the Carpenè Family at VinItaly
Voted honorary member of  Polish Women in Wine
Golden award for the 7th World Atlas of Wine in Germany

2016 AWARDS
Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole, French Minister of Agriculture (France)
VDP Golden Needle of Honor (Germany)
James Beard Award for the 4th edn of The Oxford Companion to Wine (US)
Journaliste Étranger de l'Année, Les Plumes d'Or du Vin et de la Gastronomie (France)
Honorary Fellow of the University of Cumbria
Czas Wina Personality of the Year (Poland)

2018 AWARDS
Grand Award of the OIV, only the ninth time this award has been made in the organisation's 90-year history and the second time to a woman
Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Wine & Spirit Competition, sponsored by l'Académie du Vin
Voted Most Influential Wine Critic in the World 2018 in this BWW 2018 survey by 416,000 wine professionals and wine lovers; by Revue du Vin de France; and, with Eric Asimov, in Tom Wark's 2018 survey of 174 American wine writers.

2020 AWARDS
James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame for a lifetime's body of work
James Beard Award for the 8th edn of The World Atlas of Wine
André Simon Award for the 8th edn of The World Atlas of Wine

2023 AWARDS
Fifth Cullen Award for Excllence (first non Australian recipient)
Gueridon de Oro, San Sebastián Gastronomika
Golden Vines Hall of Fame

2024 AWARDS
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Masters of Wine
Shortlisted for Critic of the Year, UK Press Awards
Voted World's Best Wine Critic in a poll of 1.6 million votes from 112 countries organised by tastingbook.com.

AWARDS FOR WINE GRAPES
Best Drinks Book of 2012 Wine & Spirits magazine (US)
Hall of Fame for Best Drinks Book, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (France)
André Simon Award for Best Drinks Book (UK)
James Beard Award for Best Beverage Book (US)
Fortnum & Mason Award for Best Drink Book (UK)
Faiveley International Wine Book of the Year 2013, Roederer Awards (UK)
Best Viticulture Book 2013, OIV Awards (France)

… non bimbo broadcaster

I started out as rent-a-presenter, writing and presenting 'The Wine Programme' which I believe was the world's first TV series on wine and have yet to be corrected.

Then Nick and I started Eden Productions, our own TV production company and I've been involved in the programmes listed below. 

Some of the work I have enjoyed most, however, is narrating television documentaries. Unlike filming, you don't need any make-up. You don't have to be careful what you wear (except for manmade fabrics that can make terribly distracting crackling noises into the hypersensitive mikes used by sound engineers). All you need is to be able to read. In fact it seems a miracle to me that people are prepared to pay me to go and sit in a little dark room, watch an interesting programme and do a relatively undemanding performance while playing with words. One of these days I'd like to offer a service to producers of writing and editing scripts because I enjoy this aspect of it so much too, but alas narrated documentaries have fallen from fashion, as have narrators with voices as relatively posh as mine. 

'The House', the notorious and seminal fly-on-the-wall six-parter about Covent Garden's Royal Opera House was one of the most fascinating series to narrate – not least because I really didn't realise at the time quite how damaging it would turn out to be, which was a bit unfortunate as the then General Director of the Opera House, Jeremy Isaacs, was a very good friend. Subsequent subjects included Olga Korbut and a study of north London strictly Orthodox Jewish women called 'And God Created Netball'.

1983 – writer/presenter of first series of 'The Wine Programme', the world's first TV series devoted to wine, shown first on Channel 4 in the UK and subsequently in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and eastern Europe.
1985 – second series of 'The Wine Programme' C4
1985 – writer/presenter of 'Jancis Robinson's Christmas Wine List' C4
1986 – narrator for 'Forty Minutes' BBC2
1986/7 – presenter of BBC Design Awards BBC2
1987 – narrator of 'Design Classics' BBC2 and elsewhere
1987 – third series of 'The Wine Programme'
1987 – writer/presenter of 'Jancis Robinson Meets...' Thames
1989 – writer/presenter/producer of 'Matters of Taste' C4 (Glenfiddich Award)
1991 – writer/presenter/producer of 'Matters of Taste' C4 and Australia
1992 – writer/presenter/producer of 'Vintners' Tales' BBC2
1994 – co-host of first series 'Grape Expectations' TV Food Network (US) 1995 – co-host of second series Grape Expectations
1995 – writer/presenter/producer of 'Jancis Robinson's Wine Course' BBC2 and numerous broadcasters worldwide (James Bear Award)
1996 – narrator of 'The House' (Royal Opera) BBC2
1997 – writer/presenter of 'The Food Chain' BBC1
1998 – writer/presenter of 'Vintners' Tales' (2nd series) BBC2 (Glenfiddich Award and Jacob's Creek World Food Media Award)
1999 – writer/presenter of 'Taste with Jancis Robinson' BBC2
2003 – presenter of 'Uncorked' on Italy, various networks worldwide
2017 – co-host of 'The Wine Show' for international transmission
2017 – presenter of 'Five Green Bottles' on BBC Radio 4
2018 – presenter of 'Uncorked' on BBC Radio 4
2018 – one of three people profiled in the film SOMM3

plus numerous one-off narrations and appearances.

well rounded person.…

Other stuff that I do includes eating, drinking, talking and listening. The closest I have been to any commercial involvement (see my ethical policy) was my work as wine consultant for British Airways from 1995 until I resigned in 2010. Since early 2005 I have been a member of the Royal Household Wine Committee, choosing wines for HM the Queen to serve her guests – also on the basis of blind tastings. And in 2018 I launched my perfect wine glass with stemless version plus two decanters in conjunction with designer Richard Brendon. 

Nick and I were closely involved with the Geoffrey Roberts Award, an annual international travel bursary for someone in food and/or drink, now administered by the Vintners Company. In 1999 Nick dreamt up Wine Relief, an initiative designed to raise funds for the admirable work done by Comic Relief improving lives in the UK and Africa. Put 'Wine Relief' in the search box to see just how many millions have been raised through wine-related activities. He came up with Menu Relief in 2013.

Since the early years of this century we have also been proud to play a part, on four continents, in the eye-wateringly successful fundraising efforts of Room to Read, an exceptional charity founded by ex-Microsoft John Wood to spread literacy throughout the developing world. Wine has played a significant part in generating donations from Room to Read's many generous supporters around the world. 

I'm a Cumbrian, married to a saintly Mancunian (a United fanatic since birth), Nick Lander, who writes about food and restaurants for the Financial Times and is food service consultant. He has advised arts organisations such as the Royal Opera House, the South Bank Centre and the Serpentine Gallery and developments such as Argent's at King's Cross and the Bloomberg London building. He used to have a restaurant, L'Escargot, in Soho in the 1980s and is the only restaurant critic in the world to have run such a successful restaurant. In 2012 he published The Art of the Restaurateur which was an Economist book of the year. His second book was On the Menu. See his weekly contributions at Nick on restaurants.

We have three exceptional children vintage-dated 1982, 1984 and 1991, grandsons born in 2010 and 2013 and granddaughters born in 2017 and 2018. Our son, vintage 1984, re-opened The Quality Chop House in Clerkenwell, London as a particularly wine-minded restaurant in November 2012 to considerable acclaim. It has sprouted a wine bar and wine shop, Quality Wines. Portland, another wine-minded restaurant he co-owns, opened in January 2015 and was awarded a Michelin star nine months later. A casual version of Portland, Clipstone, followed. His father, needless to say, has not reviewed any of them. We live most of the year in London but spend summers in the Languedoc and, when possible, travel extensively.

… with an unusual name

I was given the unusual name Jancis because my mother and her sister had read the novel Precious Bane by Mary Webb in their teens and liked the name of the heroine Jancis Beguildy so much (despite the fact that she drowned herself and her illegitimate son) that they decided the first one to have a daughter would call her Jancis. Mary Webb was very popular in the 1920s and 1930s and wrote rural melodramas of the sort that Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm parodies. (Our prime minister of the time, Stanley Baldwin, even wrote a preface to Precious Bane, a book in which the male characters tend to be called Seth and Gideon.)

It may be a significant fact that most of Mary Webb's work was set in and around Shropshire. Until January 2007 neither I nor my mother knew whether Jancis is an old Shropshire name or whether Mary Webb made it up, but Purple Pager Bob Ross of Franklin Lakes, NJ managed to find Shropshire Folklore, ed by C S Burne, from the collections of G F Jackson, by Georgina Frederica Jackson, 1886, page 575, which has a series of primitive acrostics on the word Finis, including this one:
F for Francis,
I for Jancis,
N for Nicklis,
I for Jicklis,
S for Sammy Salt-Box.

Very interesting (to me!) and much appreciated.

Incidentally, my birth certificate actually says Jancice because it was only when I was eight that my mother re-read the book and realised she'd got the spelling wrong.

I have never actually met another Jancis but I have dedicated a book to one in the Bristol area, who must have been born in the 1970s; I've had a letter from one who must be closer to my age and living in Milan; I have corresponded with a BBC radio producer called Jancis; and I'm told there was once a dress shop in the town of Reigate in Surrey just south of London called Jancis. In Brazil in November 2003 I was contacted by a lady of Polish extraction whose parents had emigrated to Brazil with the family name Jancis, which I had never come across before but I do see that www.jancis.com belongs to an American family called Jancis. In December 2005 I heard from another Jancis born in 1950 living in an English village whose parish newsletter is called – Purple Pages. In 2013 I was contacted by a Maruta Jancis of Connecticut who is of Latvian origin.

In January 2013 I learnt that by a strange coincidence Professor Carole Meredith, my co-author José Vouillamoz's mentor as a grape geneticist and now co-owner of Lagier Meredith vineyard and winery on Mount Veeder high above the Napa Valley, is the great niece of Mary Webb. Her paternal grandfather's sister, maiden name Gladys Mary Meredith, was the author of Precious Bane.