Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and editor of wine literature. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website jancisrobinson.com. She also provides advice for Queen Elizabeth II's wine cellar.
Robinson studied mathematics and philosophy at Oxford University and worked for a travel company after leaving university. Robinson started her wine writing career on December 1, 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. She also served as British Airways's wine consultant.
As a wine writer, she has become one of the world's leading writers of educational and encyclopedic material on wine. The Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Robinson, is generally considered to be the most complete wine encyclopedia. In addition, The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson is one of the leading wine atlases. In 1995, Jancis Robinson appeared in a 10-episode wine course on BBC 2 television. This series has later been reissued on DVD. A book titled Jancis Robinson's Wine Course was written to accompany the series and has gone through several editions.
She has an honorary doctorate from the Open University, and was made an OBE in 2003, among numerous other awards for her writing. Her accolades include multiple Glenfiddich Awards and André Simon Memorial Awards, and Decanter's "1999 (Wo)Man of the Year".