Académie du Vin Library

Amanda Barnes is an award-winning wine writer who has been based in South America since 2009 and is a regular correspondent for Decanter magazine and the Editor of the Circle of Wine Writers. She has tasted over 1,500 Malbec wines and eaten over 800 Chilean oysters in her time travelling on this fascinating continent, and is currently studying to become a Master of Wine.

Andrew Caillard MW (Master of Wine) is the author of several books, including Penfolds: The Rewards of Patience (six editions), Imagining Coonawarra, A Travel Through Time (the history of leading Spanish winery Marques de Riscal), The Essence of Dreams (the history of the Mornington Peninsula’s wine industry), and co-authored educational books Australian Wine and A Taste Around the World of Wine. He is also editor of The Wine Journal, which draws on Andrew’s periodical publication, The Vintage Journal, containing research, experience and tasting expertise gathered during over 40 years working in the secondary market, the corporate retail world, the wine media, film and painting.

Andrew Jefford was born in Gloucestershire but grew up beneath the wide skies of Norfolk. Having discovered the pleasures of wine in his early teens, he learned more about it by making it – from carrots, apples, nettles, elderflowers ... and grape-juice concentrate. The quiet plop-plop-plop of fermenting wine in air-locked demi-johns tissued the night silence of the family home, while the finished wines (swallowed with a grimace) contributed to mealtime merriment. After study at the Universities of Reading and East Anglia, he worked first in publishing as an editor and then, from 1988, as a wine writer, taster, educator, tour guide and occasional radio presenter (on BBC Radio 4). He has written for many British newspapers, notably The Evening Standard and The Financial Times, and continues to contribute columns to Decanter and The World of Fine Wine; he also acts a co-chair for the Decanter World Wine Awards and as academic advisor to The Wine Scholar Guild. His books include The New France (2002), Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course (2016) and Whisky Island (2019), a book about the Hebridean island of Islay. He has also published poems in The Spectator and The Independent. Andrew and his family moved to Australia in 2009 and to France in 2010, where they still live. He enjoys music and walking, but no longer makes his own wine.

German-born but London-based, Anne Krebiehl MW is a wine writer and lecturer. Her work has been published in many trade and consumer publications and she is currently an editor for Vinous. She lectures, particularly on German wine, consults for London restaurants and translates wine-related texts. Anne also judges at international wine competitions. Her interests are German, Austrian, Italian and New Zealand wines, with a particular focus on Pinot Noir, Riesling and traditional method sparkling wines.

Award-winning wine and sake critic Anthony Rose writes for Decanter, The World of Fine Wine, Financial Times How to Spend It online and The Oxford Companion to Wine. He is co-chair of the Australia panel at the Decanter World Wine Awards and the Sake International Challenge in Tokyo and teaches a sake consumer course at Sake No Hana in London. A founder of The Wine Gang (www.thewinegang.com), he was the wine correspondent of the print version of the Independent from start to finish (1986–2016).

Ben Howkins is regarded as the UK’s foremost writer and expert on both port and sherry.He was awarded theVintners Scholarshipin 1963, the youngest person to receive this award, and the experience gained then, in Europe's vineyards and working with many leading vintners, inspired his commitment to educating others to the enjoyment of wine - particularly fortified and dessert wines.A prolific writer, Ben Howkins has contributed many articles on wine to consumer and trade magazines. His books include the International Wine & Food Society's guide to portRich Rare & RedandReal Men drink Port…and Ladies do too!and, most recently, Sherry on sherry.He is a member of the Vintners Company and has lectured for the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, for which he has served as Trustee. Ben is also an International Wine Judge, public speaker and has led many visits to vineyards in Europe and South America. He has travelled extensively to the USA and China, promoting his companies' brands.He is co-founder of the Royal Tokaji Wine Company and, as a founding member of the Tokaji Renaissance, is dedicated to re-establishing recognition for Tokaji Aszú as one of the world's greatest wines.

David Way has been engaged with Italian wine for the last fifteen years. He writes about it extensively on his website, www.winefriend.org, which has been his platform since he began as a wine blogger in 2009. He works for Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). He is one of the two principal writers of the new online textbook for the WSET Diploma in Wine, the highest level WSET qualification, first issued to students in 2019.

Elizabeth Gabay MW has been in the wine trade since 1986. She has written about and lectured on rosé wines extensively, and has judged at Decanter’s annual World Wine Awards as well as at many other competitions, including the Mondial de Rosé, the Guide de Vins de Provence and for magazine panel tastings for Decanter and Drinks Business.

Elizabeth Hecker’s career as a brand designer for California wineries exposed her to the life within wine. Her first taste of a Priorat wine in 2003 revealed a glistening schist landscape. She went to the Priorat to see if her vision was real. What was waiting for her there was a distinctive wine heritage and a force of nature so powerful it changed the course of her life. She spent the next ten years meeting the people of the Priorat, young and old, whose lives have been defined by the vines for generations. Alone in the vineyards sensing the fractured pieces of ancient slate supporting her place on the Earth — this was the genesis of Ethos Priorat.

Fiona Morrison MW is Managing Director of Thienpont Wine, an international wine merchant and négociant and with her husband, Jacques Thienpont, runs their three Bordeaux estates, Le Pin in Pomerol, L'IF in Saint Emilion and L'Hêtre in Castillon. She has been heavily involved in the Institute of Masters of Wine and writes books and lectures, as well as consulting for Brussels Airlines.

Gérard Bertrand is a renowned winemaker committed to viticulture in harmony with nature. Over the past 35 years, he has transformed his family vineyard in the south of France into a global benchmark for excellence and biodynamics, elevating the wines of his region to rank among the world’s finest. With an intimate knowledge of each terroir across his 17 wine estates, he perfects every vintage through the art of blending. In 2023, The Drinks Business named him "Best Winemaker in the World." Gérard Bertrand is also the author of two previous books: Wine, Moon and Stars (Abrams Books, 2015) and Nature at Heart (Albin Michel, 2021).

Gus Zhu is the first Chinese national to become a Master of Wine. He works as a research and development scientist at Harv 81 Group, specializing in chemical analysis and sensory studies of aroma compounds in wine, cork, and oak. Gus holds a Master of Science degree in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis, earned in 2017, and achieved his MW qualification in 2019. In addition to his research in flavor chemistry and sensory science, Gus is a professional wine educator, offering tutorials to wine enthusiasts around the world.

Hugh Johnson began acquiring his wine knowledge as a member of the Wine and Food Society at Cambridge University. When he came down from King's College in 1961 he became feature writer for Vogue and House & Garden, writing, among other things, wine columns for both magazines. In 1963 he became general secretary of the Wine and Food Society and succeeded the legendary gastronome André Simon as editor of Wine and Food. At the same time he became wine correspondent of The Sunday Times and started work on his first book Wine (1966), through which he established himself at the age of 27 as one of the subject's foremost writers. His rare talent for making the most complex subjects readable has led to a remarkable sequence of books. After a year as travel editor of The Sunday Times he became editor of Queen, and in 1969 James Mitchell of the newly founded publishing house Mitchell Beazley asked him to write The World Atlas of Wine. First published in 1971, this book has been translated into 14 languages and sold over four million copies. He is the world’s bestselling wine writer. In 2007 Hugh Johnson received an OBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours list. His OBE was awarded for services to winemaking and horticulture. In April 2004 Hugh was honoured with the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite, one of the highest tributes bestowed by the French Government. The medal was presented to Hugh for his significant contribution to the appreciation and understanding of France and its wines.

‘My first taste of Port was in October 1987 at matriculation dinner, Queens’ College Cambridge’ declares Julian Wiseman. ‘Immediately I knew this was the wine for me, but was too young and unwise to note what it was. Later I learnt that it might have been a 1970, a Vintage which is still drinking beautifully - but its era will soon end. Prior to Port Vintages, there are two things for which the Port trade has known me: one as a consumer, I’ve drunk about twelve times my body-weight of Vintage Port (not slender and 6'1½" ≈ 187cm). Portuguese law used to prohibit the sale of large bottles. In 2009 I persuaded the authorities to end that ban, and now most vintages are also offered in proper-size bottles: 300cl (double-magnum) and 600cl (Imperial).’ In March 2016 the Confraria do Vinho do Porto admitted Julian ‘as an Honorary Confrade with the rank of Cavaleiro, Knight.’

Jessica Dupuy is wine and spirits columnist for Texas Monthly magazine. Her work has also appeared in Imbibe, SevenFifty Daily and Wine Enthusiast. She is a Certified Sommelier, an Advanced certificate holder of the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust, and a Certified Specialist of Wine and Spirits with the Society of Wine Educators. Dupuy’s background in traditional journalism began after she earned a Masters degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2003.

Jim Clarke has written about wine for fifteen years in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, World of Fine Wine, and NPR. He was a sommelier and wine director in New York City for several years. He specializes in the wines of South Africa, and for the past five years has been the U.S. Marketing Manager for Wines of South Africa.

Julian Jeffs is one of the world’s leading authorities on sherry and has written several books on Spanish wine. After leaving Cambridge, Jeffs got a job in the sherry trade in Jerez, working in a bodega and seeing every stage in the production of wine. Called to the Bar in 1958, he took two years off to write the first edition of Sherry. He also wrote two more books on wine and others on law. A past President of the Circle of Wine Writers, he was out-of-house series editor of Faber Wine Books.

Kelli A White is the Director of Education for the Wine Center at Meadowood in Napa Valley. She is also a celebrated sommelier and author, having penned the award-winning Napa Valley, Then & Now and contributed to a variety of other books including the World Atlas of Wine, the Oxford Companion to Wine, and the Academie du Vin Library works On California, On Champagne and On Burgundy. Her articles have appeared in many top wine publications and earned her two coveted Roederer Awards. In addition to making select television and film appearances, Kelli has lectured on wine all over the world. She prides herself on making wine easy to understand without oversimplifying the subject. She lives in Napa with her husband and daughter.

Konstantinos Lazarakis MW, a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Masters of Wine, became the first Greek Master of Wine in 2002. He co-founded Wine & Spirits Professional Center, an educational organization that runs Wine & Spirits Education Trust and the Court of Master Sommeliers courses throughout Greece. He consults widely for the Hellenic Exports Organization, Aegean Airlines and Costa Navarino and for wine producers, restaurants and hotels all over the world.

Dr. Liz Thach MW is the Distinguished Professor of Wine and Management at Sonoma State University where she teaches on both the undergraduate and Wine MBA programs. She is an award-winning author who has published over 150 articles and eight wine books. Thach holds a PhD from Texas A&M. She also works as a wine judge in various competitions, and has served on many non-profit wine boards. She became a Master of Wine in 2011.

Peter Yeung is a leading wine-business consultant. He was previously Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Kosta Browne Winery and Realm Cellars, both in California, where he developed and executed strategic marketing plans, and a senior consultant at McKinsey & Company. He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mark Davidson has over 35 years of experience in the wine business. He is an annual judge at the TEXSOM International Wine Awards, Sunset Magazine and LA International wine competitions. He developed a wine education course for Simon Fraser University Global Asset and Wealth Management MBA program. Mark has worked for Wine Australia for over ten years, creating inspiring programming for trade and consumers worldwide. He is currently Head of Education for Wine Australia, North America.

Mark Ridgwell worked with many of the world’s leading spirit companies. The pinnacle of his corporate career was launching Maker’s Mark outside the US. In 1999 Mark set up Taste & Flavour, a passionate network of speakers and spirit enthusiasts. A Musketeer of Armagnac, appointed Cognac Educator, Consul of Tequila and Wine and Spirit Education Trust Approved Programme Provider, Mark worked with WSET to create its Level 1 Award in Spirits, a unique vocational spirit and liqueur qualification.

Award-winning wine writer Matt Walls has a special interest in the Rhône. He is Panel Chair for the Rhône at the Decanter World Wine Awards, and covers the region for Decanter magazine. Matt speaks on the wines of the Rhône to wine trade professionals with the backing of regional marketing body InterRhone. He visits the region twice a year and is in regular contact with some of its most respected winemakers.

Michael Broadbent was the Chairman of Christies in London as well as the founder of their Wine Course which is still taught today after 40 years. He was a wine merchant and auctioneer of world famous renown, and the first Honorary President of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, and President of the International Wine and Food Society. He published many books on wine, and was awarded many prizes and honours for his contribution to wine globally and for his books.

Michael Garner has worked in the wine business for almost 40 years and has specialized in Italian wine for over 30 of those. He is the co-author of Barolo: Tar and Roses, a regular contributor to Decanter, and taught for many years for the WSET. Garner has been a Decanter World Wine Awards judge since 2007 and is a senior judge at Vinitaly International's 5 Star Wines event.

Monty Waldin is a consultant on biodynamic and sustainable viticulture and has written articles for Decanter and The Oxford Companion to Wine along with nine regional wine books. In 2013 he became the Regional Chair for Tuscany at the Decanter World Wine Awards. In 1999 his independent guide to organic wine was voted UK wine guide of the year. His Channel 4 TV series, Chateau Monty, followed his journey to make a biodynamic red wine from a vineyard in France’s Roussillon region.

One of four children brought up by a young widow – his father having been killed in World War II – Neil McKendrick came from a home in which there was no alcohol. His conversion to wine came via ‘a series of separate moments enjoyed on a single staircase of a Cambridge college’. He continued at Cambridge, becoming the 40th Master of Gonville & Caius, at which he is now a life fellow. Neil’s love of wine also continued; he was member and minute-taker of the Bordeaux Club for fifty-seven of the Club’s seventy extraordinary years.

One of the world’s leading wine experts, Oz Clarke’s formidable reputation is based on his extensive wine knowledge and accessible, no-nonsense approach. His passion for the subject dates from his student days at Oxford University, where he won tasting competitions at a precociously early age. His tasting skills have won him an international reputation and he is acknowledged as having one of the finest palates of anyone writing about wine today. He brings a refreshingly unorthodox wit and directness to the subject and has won all the major wine writing awards both in the UK and the USA.

Peter Vinding-Diers was born in Denmark, son of the writer Ole Vinding and his wife, the painter AnneLise Grantzau-Christensen, and educated in Denmark, England and France where he studied agriculture and journalism. His adventurous life began with his stint as a journalist in Paris in the mid-sixties, then as a war correspondent in 1966 covering Nigeria, the Straits of Malaya, the Hong Kong riots, Vietnam – where he parachuted with the 101st airborne division – and Aden. His career in wine has covered many key innovations and business successes around the world. He shows no signs of stopping as his Sicilian Montecarrubo wines, made on the shores of the Ionian Sea, attract increasing attention.

Raymond Blake is one of Ireland’s leading wine writers. His enthusiasm for wine is boundless; as an independent voice his judgement is widely respected. As wine editor of Food & Wine Magazine, a position he has held since its launch in 1997, his travels take him to the far-flung corners of the wine world, though his spiritual home is Burgundy. He writes for numerous other publications and is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. In 2006 he was inducted as a Chevalier du Tastevin in Burgundy.

Richard Mayson is an award-winning wine writer and an authority on Portuguese wine. A lecturer and consultant, he writes for Decanter and The World of Fine Wine and is a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Wine, the Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine and the World Atlas of Wine. His books include Port and the Douro, Madeira: The islands and their wines and The wines of Portugal. He is Chair of the Decanter World Wine Awards for Port and Madeira Wine.

Rosemary George spent nine years in the wine trade with The Wine Society, Louis Eschenauer (Bordeaux), H Sichel & Sons, Findlater Matta and Les Amis du Vin. In 1979 she became one of the first women to qualify as a Master of Wine. A freelance writer since 1981, she has written thirteen books, covering the Languedoc, Chablis, Roussillon, Tuscany and New Zealand. She is a contributor to various magazines including Decanter and Sommelier India.

Sarah Jane Evans MW is an award-winning wine writer, journalist and speaker at conferences worldwide. She is Co-Chair of the Decanter World Wine Awards and Chairman of the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino. She is a former Chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine, and a winner of the WSET’s Outstanding Alumni Award. Twice named winner of Outstanding Communicator of the Year for Spain, and has won the Outstanding Contribution award from Rioja.

Stephen Brook is a distinguished author and award-winning wine journalist. After a career in publishing in the US and UK Stephen became a full-time writer in 1982. He has written and edited many books and anthologies on travel, and numerous books on wine, especially on the wines of Bordeaux and California. He contributes regularly to four international wine magazines, lectures on wine at Christie’s Education in London, and is in demand as a guest judge at wine competitions around the world.

Human position

Wink Lorch has always worked in the world of wine and since the late 1980s has been a wine communicator, teaching wine trade students, entertaining wine lovers and writing for magazines and books. In addition she has worked with specialist wine book authors and publishers including on books by Oz Clarke and Jancis Robinson.Wink lives partly in London and partly in the French Alps. She has become a specialist in the unusual wines of the French Alps (Savoie, Bugey and others) and of the Jura, contributing to many books and magazines on these specialist regions. Wink has also been involved in travel guide writing and editing for her specialist areas.

Stephen Skelton MW has spent almost the whole of his working life growing grapes, making wine and advising vine growers in Great Britain. He has also written and lectured extensively on vineyards in and wines from the UK.

CH’NG Poh Tiong is a prolific writer, senior wine judge and consultant. He has been a publisher of many magazines, guides and books including The Wine Review, the second oldest wine magazine in Asia. Poh Tiong is also writer of the world’s first guide to Bordeaux in Chinese.

Norm Roby has been writing about the California wine scene for over 30 years. From Vintage Magazine he moved to The Wine Spectator with his ‘Inside California Wine’ column; he then became the California Correspondent for Decanter magazine.

Award winning writer Giles Fallowfield is an acknowledged expert on the wines of Champagne, and has gleaned his deep knowledge of the region from regular visits there over the past 30 years. 

Caroline Gilby MW is a freelance writer specializing in the wines of Central and Eastern Europe. She is author of The Wines of Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova and chairs the panel of Eastern Europe wine judges at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Darren Smith is a freelance wine writer. After several years of writing about wine and tiptoeing around the idea of winemaking, last year he decided to launch his own ‘gypsy winemaking’ project – called The Finest Wines Available to Humanity (TFWATH).

Natasha Hughes is a London-based Master of Wine. Her career – a mixture of journalism, consultancy, judging at wine shows, event management and leading seminars – brings to mind an old MW exam question: ‘Jack of all trades, Master of Wine?’

James Lawther MW is an independent wine writer who has lived in France for over 30 years. He is the author of The Heart of Bordeaux and The Finest Wines of Bordeaux.

Jim Budd has been writing about Loire wine since 1988, a year after he bought a house with his friends in the Cher Valley. Jim writes for Wine Behind The Label as well as his own blog Jim’s Loire.