Our team
Who we are, what we believe in and what we have done.
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Staff
Jancis Robinson
Jancis has been voted the world's most influential wine critic in various polls in the US, France and internationally – although she describes herself as a wine writer rather than a wine critic. She founded JancisRobinson.com in 2000, selling the award-winning, subscription-only wine website to US digital publisher Recurrent Ventures in 2021 and then to Eisenhower Flagstaff in 2024. She is now editor in chief and main contributor. She has been wine correspondent for the Financial Times since 1989 and writes for this global publication and ft.com every Saturday.
She is founder-editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, co-author with Hugh Johnson of The World Atlas of Wine (nearly five million copies sold) and co-author of Wine Grapes, each of these books recognised as a standard reference worldwide. The 24-Hour Wine Expert (2017) is a slim paperback guide to the practical essentials of wine.
In 1984 she was the first person outside the wine trade to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams and in 2003 she was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen, on whose cellar she advised from 2004 until 2022. She continues to be a member of the Royal Household Wine Committee.
In one week in April 2016 she was presented with France's Officier du Mérite Agricole, the German VDP's highest honour and, in the US, her fourth James Beard Award. She now has six, including being the only wine writer elevated to the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame. In 2018 she launched her own hand-made, dishwasher-friendly, ideal wine glass and in 2021 became a trustee of the Gérard Basset Foundation designed to increase diversity and inclusion in the worlds of wine, spirits and hospitality though education. She has also been awarded two Lifetime Achievement Awards – once from the IWSC in 2018 and another from the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2024.
She loves and lives for wine in all its glorious diversity, generally favouring balance and subtlety over sheer mass, having campaigned for associated sustainability issues since 2006.
See Jancis Robinson – the long version for more detail.
See Where to find us for details of current events, publications and broadcasts.
See Site history for details of the evolution of JancisRobinson.com.
Julia Harding MW
Julia, as senior editor and staff writer, has been a key member of the team for 20 years and has been crucial to maintaining the high editorial standards of this site. Her qualifications are exceptional as you can see here. A top pass in the punishing Master of Wine exams (she passed first time with flying colours, and gained a distinction for her dissertation), she is particularly up to speed on oenological and viticultural matters and has been much in demand as a mentor for Master of Wine students. She has won many awards for her writing, including the Masters of Wine Noval Award for Excellence in Communication (2007); the Chairman’s Award in the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards (2009), Portuguese Wine Writer of the Year (2012); and was shortlisted for the Roederer Award for Online Communicator (2014 and 2017) and named Wines of Portugal Personality of 2022. She is also the author, with José Vouillamoz and Jancis, of the multi-award-winning Wine Grapes; the maps editor for the 7th and 8th editions of the World Atlas of Wine; and became lead editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine with the 5th edition (published in 2023), after having co-edited with Jancis the 3rd and 4th editions.
See all articles written by Julia.
Tamlyn Currin
Tamlyn, sustainability editor and staff writer, writes delightfully. She has a particular interest in all matters sustainable, food-and-wine pairing, beverages other than wine, and artisan producers. Every year she pores over dozens of wine books, reviewing them with reverential respect for the time and sacrifice it takes to write a book, and ruthless attention to detail (pity the author who submits a badly written book). Her great loves are wines off the beaten track, Eastern Europe, Languedoc and Roussillon, and German wine (for which she blames Michael Schmidt entirely). She also adores vermouth and cocktails with a bitter twist. Negroni is her brunch drink, if Bloody Mary isn't on tap. She'll eat anything – at least once. She shone in the WSET Diploma exams and is a keen taster. Like Julia, she is a particular stickler for detail and consistency. If you don't like metaphors, steer clear of her tasting notes.
Samantha Cole-Johnson
Sam, senior editor US, has been writing for JancisRobinson.com since her Diary of a Willamette cellar rat series in 2019. Since then, she has worked five harvests (bouncing hemispheres), collected her DipWSET, been shortlisted once for a Roederer International Wine Writers Award and twice for the IWSC Emerging Talent in Wine Communication Trophy, and won the Commanderie de Bordeaux Andre Crispin Award for her top score on the Stage 1 MW exam. Based in Oregon, she teaches WSET Level 3 and Diploma classes at The Wine & Spirit Archive. Her interests are firmly rooted in regenerative farming and fair worker treatment; she believes that a winemaker is only as good as their vineyard crew and that ‘unskilled labour’ doesn’t exist in superlative viticulture. She’s also our social media maven, responsible for bringing you the weekly Wine News in 5 broadcast on Instagram and our podcast.
Tara Q Thomas
Tara, managing editor, joined JancisRobinson.com in late 2022, after 25 years at the US-based publication Wine & Spirits. There, as a writer, editor and critic, she was particularly focused on the wines of the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, with special attention to Greece. Now, from her base in NYC, she’s focusing on keeping us all on schedule and on task – and on translating between British and American English. (Photo: Mike Rush.)
Andrew Morris
Andrew, our deputy editor, is an experienced copy-editor and former medical publishing professional. He gained the WSET Diploma in 2017 and joined the JancisRobinson.com team in 2018, answering our prayers for someone with high editorial standards and a thorough knowledge of wine. With Julia he is responsible for every word we publish, wrestles the tasting notes database and works closely with Tara in myriad ways to keep the JancisRobinson.com show on the road.
Contributors
Nick Lander
Nick, he who must be obeyed, is Mr Jancis Robinson and the Financial Times restaurant critic 1989-2022, super-chef, and food service consultant to all manner of arts organisations and developments. His book The Art of the Restaurateur was voted a Book of the Year in 2012 by The Economist and his second book On the Menu about restaurant menus was published in 2016. He kindly supplies Nick on restaurants every Sunday, and we prefer to keep him incognito for his restaurant reviewing – hence the silhouette.
Richard Hemming MW
Richard has been a major contributor to the site since 2008, during which time he documented the entire six years it took him to become a Master of Wine. You can read about his eventual success here. In a past life he worked for Majestic Wine and has been a finalist in the Louis Roederer International Wine Writer Awards, Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards and the Young Wine Writers Awards. He has also been published by The Financial Times, The Drinks Business, Harper's, Decanter, The World of Fine Wine, Noble Rot and Meininger's Wine Business International and is a regular columnist in Drinks Retailing News.
In 2019, Richard relocated to Singapore, where he reports on the world of wine in Asia and beyond.
Walter Speller
Our fearless and hard-working Italy editor Walter has worked with Italian wine for many years, including a stint as buyer at the Michelin-starred Le Pont de la Tour in London. Walter has written for us since 2008, and he also contributes to The World Atlas of Wine, The Oxford Companion to Wine and Decanter magazine. Walter is based in east London and Padova in Italy.
Ferran Centelles
Ferran is our Spanish specialist, who was the sommelier at the world-renowned El Bulli for 13 years until its closure. He is chef Ferran Adrià's wine man, writing substantial books for the elBullifoundation and is also a judge at international wine competitions. He is extremely well known by the Spanish wine establishment, is an educator and has even dabbled in making wine himself.
James Lawther MW
James has been a Bordeaux-based wine writer since 1996. He cut his teeth in the wine trade in Paris in the 1980s with Steven Spurrier at Caves de la Madeleine then passed the MW exam in 1993. He was a long-time contributing editor to Decanter and contributes to The World Atlas of Wine, The Oxford Companion to Wine and Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book. Bordeaux is his speciality but he also covers other regions in France.
See James on James and all articles written by James Lawther MW.
Matthew Hayes
Matthew Hayes has lived in Dijon with his French wife and family for more than 20 years. He has worked variously for Berry Bros & Rudd and fine-wine brokers Fine + Rare in London, Moët & Chandon in Epernay and a prominent wine merchant in Burgundy. But he found his time working at Willi’s Wine Bar and Juveniles in Paris even more valuable for opening his eyes to the great wide world of wine rather than simply the classics and investment-grade wines – about which he has a decidedly sceptical view. A 2008 road accident in Meursault left him paraplegic and channelled his obvious aptitude for writing into a blog leglessinburgundy. His company Albion Vins Fins imports Italian wine into France where he also represents a certain range of glassware. He is currently a Master of Wine student whose life story is told far more eloquently by Matthew himself here.
Paula Sidore
Paula Redes Sidore originally came to Germany for the adventure; she stayed for the wine. Paula holds an MFA in creative writing, and wine qualifications in both German and English. Her time in Berlin coincided with the capital’s transformation from beer to natural-wine mecca, reminding her that even the most intransigent are capable of change. And so, following positions at several high-end wine establishments, she took the leap of blending her love for words and wine. First with Weinstory, a creative content and translation agency for the wine industry; and then in October 2020 with the co-founding of Trink magazine. You can read more about her approach to wine and words here and here. She and her family live on the northern boundary of winegrowing on the Rhine, outside of Bonn, Germany.
Alistair Cooper MW
Having studied modern languages, particularly Spanish, at Newcastle University, Alistair moved to Chile and Argentina in 2002 where he lived for four years, working for wineries in export management. Moving back to the UK in 2006, he ventured into all aspects of trading from managing, buying and consulting for wine bars and restaurants to importing and wholesaling wines. Having passed the WSET Diploma in 2011 as the top student, he was awarded the Derouet Jameson Scholarship. He went on to study for the Master of Wine and in 2017 passed the final part of the examination with a research paper focused on the southern Chilean region of Itata. Alistair now works as a freelance wine consultant and writer. He is a regular judge at the Decanter World Wine Awards and is a panel chair for the International Wine & Spirit Competition, as well as President of South America’s most prestigious wine competition, the Cata d’Or Wine Awards. Alistair is in South America several times a year, judging, educating and consulting. He also works as the consultant wine buyer for the Australian company United Cellars, Australia’s largest independent wine merchant, for whom he sniffs out wines of real interest, just as we hope he will for visitors to JancisRobinson.com.
Alder Yarrow
Alder joined the team in October 2011 to provide a regular column on what is currently preoccupying wine-loving Americans. He is responsible for Vinography.com, the most awarded wine blog anywhere since its inception in 2004, and has been instrumental in creating the Old Vine Registry, the world's most comprehensive database of old-vine vineyards. Alder was educated at Stanford and Oxford and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and daughter.
Max Allen
Max joined us in August 2013, writing monthly about matters Australian. He is a highly garlanded writer based in Melbourne, author of several very successful books and regular contributor to a number of print titles. Early in 2017, after 19 years writing for The Australian, he became wine correspondent of the Australian Financial Review. He has a particular sympathy for organic and biodynamic production and is an accomplished mandolin player to boot.
Andy Howard MW
Andy worked for Marks & Spencer for 32 years as a buyer, becoming an MW in 2011. In 2013 he left M&S to focus on his own business (Vinetrades Ltd), which is involved in education, consulting, buying and investment in wine. He is an active wine judge and writer, and has judged for the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), the International Wine Challenge (IWC), the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC), Bacchus and 5StarWines. He is our UK retail specialist and a contributing editor to Decanter.
Tom Parker MW
Tom started working in the wine industry while reading modern languages at Oxford. He joined Farr Vintners permanently in 2011, where he is now a buyer. In 2018 Tom became the youngest MW in the world (he turned 30 in March 2018) after passing all three stages of the qualification at the first attempt. In 2019 he was named the Young Achiever of the Year by The Drinks Business.
Dave Broom
Dave Broom joined the JancisRobinson.com team as our sprits expert in 2023. Glasgow-born, Dave has been writing about drink for over 30 years and has specialised in spirits since 1996. In his time, he’s been contributing editor at Whisky Magazine, Whisky Magazine Japan, Whisky Advocate and Scotchwhisky.com. He’s written 14 books, including The Way of Whisky: A Journey into Japanese Whisky, The World Atlas of Whisky and, his newest, A Sense of Place. Dave has also written and presented two films, Cuba in a Bottle and the award-winning The Amber Light, and is ‘an agreeable man with a pepper-and-salt beard’ (The Irish Times). (Photo credit: Grant Anderson.)
Tim Jackson MW
Tim qualified as a Master of Wine in 2017 and is a refugee from the world of finance. He read Chemistry at Oxford and gained an MBA at London Business School in 2004. A keen sportsman, he is also a particularly assiduous recorder of tasting notes. You can read more about him here, and in his autobiographical entry in our 2018 wine writing competition. He is based in London and travels widely throughout the wine world. He is on the IMW’s Education Committee, helping set the practice tasting papers for student seminars, an important role. In September 2020 he became head of marketing for Amathus Drinks in the UK so he will no longer be writing about other UK importers or retailers but will continue to share his impressions from his wine travels and non-commercial tastings.
Caroline Gilby MW
Dr Caroline Gilby MW is a writer specialising in Central and Eastern Europe. Her first book, The Wines of Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova, won the Prix de L’OIV in 2020 and she contributes to The Oxford Companion to Wine, Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book and Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopaedia and writes for a variety of wine publications worldwide. Caroline was the first foreigner to receive the title ‘Friend of Hungarian Winemakers’ in 2018; in 2022 became ‘Best Wine Personality in the Balkans’ and was awarded Wine Personality of the Year 2024 in Serbia. Prior to her career as a writer, Caroline spent seven years as a senior wine buyer at Augustus Barnett off-licences and Bass pubs. Caroline holds a doctorate in plant biology and has been a Master of Wine since 1992.
Amanda Barnes MW
Amanda Barnes is one of the world’s leading authorities on South American wine, based in and writing about the regions since 2009. She is the award-winning author of The South America Wine Guide: The definitive guide to wine in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia & Peru and has traversed Latin America’s wine regions by foot, horse, wheels, air and water. Although South America is her specialism, Amanda has visited over 40 wine countries and is completing her Master of Wine qualification. When she isn't drinking wine, she is an avid drinker of coffee – exploring the plantations of the world bean by bean. Amanda became a Master of Wine in 2025.
Florencia Gomez
Florencia hails from Argentina, where she studied oenology. She’s since worked in wineries from Mendoza to Napa, Burgundy and Hvar, Croatia, and even lived in Zanzibar, Tanzania, for a year. Now based in London as a Stage 2 Master of Wine candidate, Florencia tastes as much as she can, sharing her tasting notes and her well-rounded knowledge with us in her tasting reports. She is particularly interested in wines from wineries dedicated to innovation, social responsibility, environmental sustainability and alternative packaging. But for her, it’s not just about the wine itself. As a proud Latina, she cares deeply about building a diverse community, promoting minority inclusivity and empowering women in the industry.
Oliver Coleman
Oliver came to the wine industry after a decade traversing the Middle East as a political risk analyst. After five years in wine retail and sales, Oliver passed the WSET Diploma with Merit in 2022 and, on the way, won the Lustau Sherry Award. Oliver is a qualified WSET Educator and, in between reporting, writing, editing and uploading tasting notes for JancisRobinson.com, runs wine events in and around Bath.
Ben Colvill
After reading philosophy (Warwick) and art history (Oxford and Goldsmiths), Ben’s Damascene wine moment came in the shape of a bottle of Monterey Pinot Noir. Still in the throes of the WSET Diploma, he has reported light at the end of the tunnel. He’s also training with the Academy of Cheese and writes about food and travel when not busy helping out with our tasting notes. Spare time is spent trying to learn Sanskrit and roaming the Chilterns with partner and faithful hound.
Julian Leidy
Julian, assistant editor, began interning at JancisRobinson.com in 2022, and has managed our annual wine writing competition ever since. His passion for wine was sparked by a bottle of Tesco Nero d’Avola while a first-year at the University of St Andrews. Since then, in addition to reading endlessly about wine, he has worked in wine retail and wine service. He is currently working on a Master’s in Medieval History at Oxford, where he is also a member of the Oxford blind-tasting team. He remains particularly interested in Sicilian wine and is also an ardent lover of rosé.
Rachel Shaughnessy
Rachel is a Sussex-based chartered accountant who has been with us since 2004.
Previous contributors
Elaine Chukan Brown
Elaine Chukan Brown joined JancisRobinson.com in 2015 to dramatically beef up our coverage of American wine. After a stint as a commercial fisherman in her native Alaska she became an academic philosopher, writing a dissertation on what it means to be indigenous (topical for students of vine varieties). You can read more about her unique approach to wine in Introducing Elaine Chukan Brown. In 2020, after hosting a very successful series of webinars devoted substantially to California wine, she was voted IWSC Wine Communicator of the Year. See also this hour-long webinar in which she interviewed Jancis. Elaine was our full-time executive editor US for most of 2022.
Michael Schmidt
Our German specialist from 2008 to 2021, who after 35 years of selling, teaching, judging and writing about wine in the UK now lives in the Ahr Valley in Germany. He also contributes to the World Atlas of Wine, and in Germany writes for the Tre Torri wine book series, FINE das Weinmagazin, Weinwisser and Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Young Shi
MW student Young Shi is Jancis’s Chinese business manager. Organiser with the rest of the TasteSpirit team of Chinese Wine Summit, she commutes between Shanghai and London and is in charge of Chinese translations.
Alex Hunt MW
From 2012 through 2016 Alex – renowned for his tasting skills and the principal wine buyer for Berkmann Wine Cellars in London – contributed a column with a philosophical bent under the title Alex on taste. By coincidence, he was Richard Hemming's mentor when Richard successfully retook the practical half of the Master of Wine exam, Julia having mentored him through the theory exams.
Andrea Frost
Andrea Frost is an award-winning writer, columnist, author and talker whose unique approach to wine has as much to do with philosophy and culture as it does with tastings and terroir. Andrea joined us in early 2018, to write a bimonthly column under the banner of 'Andrea's salon'. Read more.
Luis Gutiérrez
Luis was our Spanish correspondent until early 2013.
Linda Murphy
Until 2006 wine editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, Linda was our West Coast correspondent, signed to beef up our coverage for our many American visitors. Although based in Sonoma, California, she has become one of very few experts on the many and varied wines of the entire United States. Linda and Jancis's book American Wine was published on both sides of the Atlantic in March 2013.