My wine writing career began on 1 Dec 1975, when I started as assistant editor of the British wine trade magazine Wine & Spirit. Since then I've been lucky enough to travel all over the world of wine (which nowadays includes Asia - a continent I never thought back in the 1970s that wine would help me explore) learning that is inhabited by some of the most colourful and interesting characters that ever walked the earth.Perhaps more important is the fact that what they produce, which was always pretty romantic and wonderful and heartwarmingly earthy, is nowadays far more reliably delicious than it ever was. When I started out, it was remarkable if a wine smelt clean and not of sulphur or dirty filterpads. Today, hardly any wines are technically faulty (even though an awful lot of them are dull).There's a lot to be said about price and value as they relate to wine and I will say it, but this is probably not the place.Should you want to know in detail about how I got from being someone who couldn't type but somehow wangled their way on to a wine trade magazine to being rung up by a fan in Jakarta in the middle of the night, you could plough your way through my autobiographical memoir known as Tasting Pleasure in the US and Confessions of a Wine Lover everywhere else.For the brief version of my bio, choose one of the following options: swot, prolific author, the groaning mantelpiece, non-bimbo broadcaster, well-rounded person, warm and cuddly human being.

swot
1997 - Honorary Doctorate of The Open University, a great British institution founded by the Labour government in 1971 whereby people of all ages and conditions can study for a university degree. At the ceremony at which I was awarded the honour of being able to call myself Dr Robinson, there were scores of graduates with serious disabilities and one who was collecting his degree on his 80th birthday.1988 onwards - hooked in to the Oxford University Press book factory to edit the first (and second) Oxford Companion to Wine: an honour for me and for wine, I felt, to follow in the distinguished path pioneered by the late Sir Paul Harvey and the first ever Oxford Companion, The Oxford Companion to English Literature published in 19321984 - took and, more amazingly, passed the Master of Wine exams, becoming the first non wine trade person to earn the letters MW after their name. There are now more than 200 MWs worldwide and exams are held each year in London, the US and Australia. This fiendishly difficult qualification involves almost a week of exams, both theoretical and 'practical' (ie blind tasting). One day I'll explain why on earth I subjected myself to this ordeal - though I think being pregnant helped rather than hindered. For more information on the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) see www.masters-of-wine.org.1976-78 - did all of the wine trade exams organised by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. This outfit is based in London but runs courses all over.... I think they have too many. I joked at the time there'd probably be a question in the Certificate exam: 'Valpolicella is a) red, b) white or c) rosé' and there was in fact one that went 'Valpolicella is a) French, b) Spanish or c) Italian'. The Certificate and Higher Certificate courses could probably be combined, but the WSET does cover the ground in a very professional way, and there is always tasting as well as more arid instruction.1968-71 - Maths and Philosophy at St Anne's College, Oxford. I was one of the first three undergraduates ever to tackle this strange new arts-science hybrid.

prolific author
The Wine Book 1979 Fontana and A & C Black
Which? Wine Guide 1980, 1981 Consumers' Association / Hodder & Stoughton (Editor)
The Great Wine Book 1982 Sidgwick & Jackson (William Morrow)
Masterglass 1983, 1987
1998 Pan
Japanese edition
Vines, Grapes & Wines 1986 Mitchell Beazley (Knopf) - also published in French, German, Danish, and Finnish
Jancis Robinson's Food & Wine Adventures 1987 Headline
The Demon Drink 1988
1989 Mitchell Beazley
Mandarin
(How to Handle Your Drink) 1994 Cedar
Vintage Timecharts 1989 Mitchell Beazley (Weidenfeld)
Also published in French and German
Oxford Companion to Wine 1994
1995
1996
1997 OUP (Editor)
Published in German by Hallwag
Published in French by Hachette
Published in Danish by GAD
1999
2001 OUP revised edition
also in Japanese
Jancis Robinson's Wine Course 1995
1996
1999
1999 BBC Books (Abbeville Press)
Published in German and French by Hallwag/TF1
and in Japanese
UK paperback edition
Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes 1996 OUP
Danish, German, Japanese
Confessions of a Wine Lover
(Tasting Pleasure) 1997
1998
1999 Viking Penguin (Viking Penguin USA)
UK paperback edition
US paperback
The Good Nose 1999 Wine Relief
Guide to the Best Portuguese Wines 1999 Portuguese, based on tasting notes
Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America 2000 OUP (Consultant Editor)
Jancis Robinson's Concise Wine Companion Spring 2001 OUP
World Atlas of Wine (with Hugh Johnson) 2001 Mitchell Beazley

The groaning mantelpiece

MAJOR PRE-1995 AWARDS TO JANCIS ROBINSON
1978 — Rouyet Guillet Cup for top marks in Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma
1983 — Glenfiddich Drink Book of the Year
1984 — Glenfiddich Radio/Television Programme of the Year
1984 — Glenfiddich Trophy
1984 — Master of Wine
1985 — Marques de C‡ceres Award
1986 — Glenfiddich Drink Writer and Food Writer of the Year (a unique double)
1986 — Wine Guild of the United Kingdom Premier Award
1987 — AndrŽ Simon Memorial Award Clicquot Book of the Year (US)
1992 — Glenfiddich Television Programme of the Year
1995 — AWARDS TO THE OXFORD COMPANION TO WINE

AndrŽ Simon Memorial Award (UK)
Clicquot Book of the Year (US)
Julia Child / International Association of Culinary Professionals (US)
Glenfiddich Award (UK)
James Beard Award (US)
Premio Langhe Ceretto (Italy)
Wine Guild of United Kingdom, Exceptional Certificate (UK)
Redwood Books Award, Book Design and Production Awards (UK)
Gold Medal, Academy of Gastronomy (Germany) 1995 AWARDS TO JANCIS ROBINSON

Eighth annual Wine Literary Award, from the Wine Appreciation Guild, San Francisco, US for 'an exceptional contribution to the literature of wine in the English language' (US)
Tenth Ruth Ellen Church Award, from the Midwest International Wine Exposition, Chicago, US 'created to recognize outstanding contributions to wine and food journalism' (US)
Catalan Agriculture Medal (Spain) 1996 AWARDS TO JANCIS ROBINSON

Winner of the 1996 Glenfiddich Drinks Writer of the Year Award
Winner of the overall 1996 Glenfiddich Trophy for food and drink communicators (Britain's top award)
Voted second Woman of the Year for 'Celebrating Wine in American Life' Week by Women for Winesense (US)
Jancis Robinson's Wine Course voted Wine Book of the Year and Television Programme of the Year by the Wine Guild of the United Kingdom. Jancis Robinson also won the Wine Guild's overall Premier Award (UK)
Voted first Communicator of the Year by International Wine and Spirit Competition/Vinitaly (Italy/UK). Runners-up were Marvin Shanken, Wine Spectator and Decanter magazines. 1997 AWARD

Honorary Doctorate, The Open University (UK) 1998 AWARD

Silver Medal, Academy of Gastronomes (Germany) 1999 AWARDS

Decanter magazine (Wo)Man of the Year (UK)
Women for WineSense Inspirational Award, LA Chapter's first Hall of Fame (US)
Glenfiddich Award for Best TV Programme (Vintners' Tales)
First ever Glenfiddich Award for TV Personality of the Year
Tasting Pleasure: Confessions of a Wine Lover wins Wine Writing Literary Award at Versailles World Cookbook Fair
'Vintners' Tales' wins Gold Award for wine TV programmes at the World Food Media Awards, Tasting Australia

non-bimbo broadcaster
I started out as rent-a-presenter, writing and presenting 'The Wine Programme' which I believe was the world's first TV series on wine and have yet to be corrected.Then Nick and I started Eden Productions, our own TV production company and I've been involved in the programmes listed below.Some of the work I enjoy most, however, is narrating television documentaries. Unlike filming, you don't need any make-up. You don't have to be careful what you wear (except for manmade fabrics that can make terribly distracting crackling noises into the hypersensitive mikes used by sound engineers). All you need is to be able to read.In fact it seems a miracle to me that people are prepared to pay me to go and sit in a little dark room, watch an interesting programme and do a relatively undemanding performance while playing with words. (One of these days I'd like to offer a service to producers of writing and editing scripts because I enjoy this aspect of it so much too.)'The House', the notorious and seminal fly-on-the-wall six-parter about Covent Garden's Royal Opera House was one of the most fascinating series to narrate - not least because I really didn't realise at the time quite how damaging it woud turn out to be, which was a bit unfortunate as the then General Director of the Opera House, Jeremy Isaacs, was a very good friend.More recent subjects have included Olga Korbut and a study of north London strictly Orthodox Jewish women called 'And God Created Netball'.

1983 - writer/presenter of first series of 'The Wine Programme', the world's first TV series devoted to wine, shown first on Channel 4 in the UK and subsequently in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and eastern Europe. 1985 - second series of 'The Wine Programme' C4 1985 - writer/presenter of 'Jancis Robinson's Christmas Wine List' C4 1986 - narrator for 'Forty Minutes' BBC2 1986/7 - presenter of BBC Design Awards BBC2 1987 - narrator of 'Design Classics' BBC2 and elsewhere 1987 - third series of 'The Wine Programme' 1987 - writer/presenter of 'Jancis Robinson Meets...' Thames 1989 - writer/presenter/producer of 'Matters of Taste' C4 (Glenfiddich Award) 1991 - writer/presenter/producer of 'Matters of Taste' C4 and Australia 1992 - writer/presenter/producer of 'Vintners' Tales' BBC2 1994 - co-host of first series 'Grape Expectations' TV Food Network (US) 1995 - co-host of second series Grape Expectations 1995 - writer/presenter/producer of 'Jancis Robinson's Wine Course' BBC2 and numerous broadcasters worldwide (James Bear Award) 1996 - narrator of 'The House' (Royal Opera) BBC2 1997 - writer/presenter of 'The Food Chain' BBC1 1998 - writer/presenter of 'Vintners' Tales' (2nd series) BBC2 (Glenfiddich Award and Jacob's Creek World Food Media Award) 1999 - writer/presenter of 'Taste with Jancis Robinson' BBC2

plus numerous one-off narrations and appearances.

well-rounded person
Other stuff that I do includes eating, drinking, talking and occasionally listening. The closest I get to any commercial involvement is my tastings as a wine consultant for British Airways. Every few weeks (rather less often since 11 September) Hugh Johnson, Michael Broadbent and I meet up on the edge of Heathrow airport and taste up to 100 wines blind to choose the best quality examples that have come in as a result of a tender. We never look at the labels until the very very end, but it's amazing how often the same producers do well: people like Brocard of Chablis, Raimat in Spain and Labouré Roi among those Burgundians who can supply the vast quantities needed by an airline (though there are moves afoot at BA to be flexible enough to reduce these).Nick and I are also closely involved with raising money for Comic Relief through wine-related activities. Look out for exciting news about what will happen in the run-up to the next Red Nose Day in March 2003.

warm and cuddly human being
I'm a Cumbrian, married to a saintly Mancunian (a United fanatic since birth), Nick Lander, who writes about food and restaurants for the Financial Times. (He used to have a restaurant, L'Escargot, in Soho in the 1980s.) See nick's food news.We have three exceptional children (of course) vintage-dated 1982, 1984 and 1991 and live most of the year in London.