Jancis Robinson wrote the book on wine. Literally. The author of the first four editions of the definitive Oxford Companion to Wine, she has also published some 20 books on the subject and more than 1,500 articles for the Financial Times, for which she has been the wine correspondent since 1989. A member of the royal family’s wine committee, she also helps select wines for Queen Elizabeth II. A trailblazer and a nimble scholar, Robinson—who, in addition to her work at the FT, pours her expertise into her jancisrobinson.com website—was the first wine writer ever to become an M.W., or Master of Wine, a rare distinction.

With nearly five decades in the trade, Robinson has an acute awareness of the forces behind the field’s constant evolution, and gives her readers context so that they can understand what it all means. Her primary interests lie not just in the flavors of wine, but rather in the stories that wines tell about where they came from, how they’re made, and what they reveal about the world. A supporter of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation, a nonprofit working to improve soil health, she also helps amplify the many ways in which the climate crisis is impacting the wine industry, such as harvest dates and “smoke taint.” By her account, the wine world is in more flux today than ever before. 

On this episode, Robinson speaks with Spencer about the power of old vines, the trials of translating taste and smell into language, and why some of today’s most thoughtful producers are packaging great wines in cardboard boxes and cans.

Special thanks to our Season 5 sponsor, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts.

Show notes:

• Full transcript
• jancisrobinson.com
• [15:10] Regenerative Viticulture Foundation
• [17:16] The World Atlas of Wine
• [22:43] Vintage Time Charts
• [26:47] “Ancient Vines and Stunning Wines, But Portugal’s Douro Valley Has a Problem”
• [28:37] Historic Vineyard Society
• [28:48] Sideways
• [31:14] Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course
• [43:09] Master of Wine exam
• [46:04] The Oxford Companion to Wine
• [49:45] The 24-Hour Wine Expert
• [57:53] Wine Grapes
• [59:53] Design Classics
• [01:00:51] The Royal Opera House