Jancis Robinson

Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She provided advice for the wine cellar of Queen Elizabeth II. She studied mathematics and philosophy at St Anne's College, University of Oxford, and worked in marketing for Thomson Holidays.

Career Robinson started her wine writing career on 1 December 1975 when she became assistant editor for the trade magazine Wine & Spirit. In 1984, she became the first person outside the wine trade to become a Master of Wine. From 1995 until she resigned in 2010 she served as British Airways' wine consultant, and supervised the BA Concorde cellar luxury selection.

As a wine writer, she has become one of the world's leading writers of educational and encyclopedic material on wine and was described by Decanter as "the most respected wine critic and journalist in the world". The Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Robinson, is widely considered to be the most comprehensive wine encyclopedia in the world. The first edition was published in 1994, and took five years to write after she was signed on as editor in 1988. In addition, The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Robinson is one of the world's leading wine atlases. A book titled Jancis Robinson's Wine Course was written to accompany the series and has gone through several editions. In 2015 she launched an online wine course, "Mastering Wine – Shortcuts to Success" on udemy. In 2008, Robinson contested that they had an antagonistic relationship.

In 2012, Allen Lane (Penguin) in the UK and Ecco in the US published a 1,200-page book called Wine Grapes co-authored by Robinson with Julia Harding MW and Jose Vouillamoz. The book provides comprehensive details on 1,368 vine varieties and won six major wine book awards.

In 2018, Robinson appeared in the documentary SOMM 3.

In 2021, Recurrent Ventures acquired Jancis Robinson’s website, JancisRobinson.com, for an undisclosed sum. She continues to run the editorial team and contribute her own writing.

Personal life Robinson is married to the food writer Nicholas Lander, author of The Art of the Restaurateur; they have three children.