Q&A: Jancis Robinson MW

Ahead of the launch of the ninth edition of The World Atlas of Wine, legendary critic and author Jancis Robinson MW reflects on a changing wine world - and where tomorrow's premier drops are likely to come from.

One of the most respected and trusted voices in wine writing, few people can claim to have witnessed the changing shape of the wine world as closely as Jancis Robinson MW. With the publication of the ninth edition of The World Atlas of Wine, the dramatic scale of that transformation is laid bare. Compared with the first edition, South America has gone from two pages to 14, while New Zealand has expanded from just seven words to nine pages. Meanwhile, climate change continues to upend once cast-iron assumptions on which traditional wine hierarchies were built. Over a glass of something chilled and keenly priced, James Lawrence finds out more.



(Credit: The World Atlas of Wine [9th Edition] by Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson & Julia Harding, Mitchell Beazley, £60; photography of authors: Chris Terry)

Looking back over the nine editions, what has changed most profoundly in the assumptions we make about what constitutes a great wine region? Are we witnessing the rewriting of the hierarchy of wine, or simply its expansion?

The first edition devoted a total of two pages to S America and seven words to New Zealand. This 9th edition gives 14 pages to S America and nine to NZ, and we acknowledge that great wines now come from almost all the regions mapped in the Atlas - with the possible exception so far of Scandinavia and the Baltics. But they will surely get there!

Of course climate change has had an extraordinary effect, not just on the extent of viable viticulture, but on the assumptions we make about wine quality hierarchies. This phenomenon is most starkly illustrated in the Côte d'Or where the Grands Crus were to a large extent those terroirs in which grapes ripened most reliably, but this is no longer necessarily a desirable factor in the really hot, dry growing seasons that Burgundy has been experiencing. We have been encountering some burgundies that seem just too ripe. I never thought that this would ever be the case but I first came across it with some of the 2019s.

Closer to home, where would you place English sparkling in the global conversation today? What does it do uniquely well - and where does it still have something to prove?

I think it has proved itself in its own, ultra-refreshing style - not a copy of champagne. It has already proved its ageability (I had a chance to enjoy Nyetimber's very first release, a 1992 disgorged in 2003, at the end of 2023 and it had lasted beautifully. I'd say there could be a bit more variation of styles - and estate or single vineyard wines tend to be more interesting than blends.

Over the past decade, which emerging (or historically underperforming) wine region has impressed you the most, and why?

I'd say the rate of progress has been most marked in Greece and Portugal. And both of them are blessed with a wonderful array of characterful, high-quality indigenous grape varieties, together with some extremely varied geographical conditions.

So is there an emerging wine region that you think the trade is still underestimating? If so, what's holding back wider recognition - is it quality, perception, distribution or simply timing?

Turkey has some excellent wines and some distinctive grape varieties but, as with Greece to a certain extent, it can be difficult to get collaboration between all wine producers in order to mount a generic promotional campaign.

After tasting tens of thousands of wines, visiting countless vineyards and documenting the evolution of the wine world over several decades, what still gives you that genuine sense of excitement or discovery?

We have nearly 300,000 tasting notes in the database of JancisRobinson.com, more than a third of them by me. I'm always thrilled by a really good wine from a new(ish) source and especially, since I'm a frugal northerner who always writes with the consumer, not the trade in mind, if it's being offered at a good price