Two UK MWs announced as part of first 2020 batch

By Lisa Riley

Published: 28 February, 2020

The Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) has announced seven new MWs from five different countries, including two from the UK.

The new UK members are Beth Pearce and Elizabeth Kelly, who are joined as MWs by Vanessa Conlin (US), Pasi Ketolainen (Finland), Lin Liu (France), Curtis Mann (US) and Ross Wise (Canada).

The first MW crop of 2020 showed the continued internationalisation of the IMW, said the IMW, with the top six countries where MWs are based around the world comprising Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

Kelly joined the wine industry 16 years ago. She worked at Oddbins and the WSET before joining the wine team at Marks & Spencer in 2013, where she is involved in buying English wines and product development.

Working as a buyer for Majestic Wine, Pearce embarked on her MW study programme journey in 2016 after completing the WSET Diploma, where she received the Derouet Jameson scholarship.

The new MWs have proved their understanding of all aspects of wine by passing the Master of Wine exam, which consists of three stages; theory exams, tasting exams and a final research paper (RP).

In addition to passing the exam, and before new members have the right to use the title Master of Wine or initials MW, they are required to sign the IMW's code of conduct.

The latest batch takes the total number of MWs to 396, based in 30 countries across the world.

In November last year, the IMW officially welcomed 14 new MWs to its membership at its annual awards ceremony, including three from the UK.

Printer friendly version