Alex Hunt MW is a member of the Institute of Master of Wine. As well as being one of the best wine tasters I have met, he is also one of the most fun to taste with, often using both accessible references to popular culture and well-chosen technical terms to describe the wine in front of him. Alex was educated at Winchester College (1992-1997), a fee-paying boarding school in Hampshire, south-west England renowned both for the quality of its cricket pitches and for having educated several future British Prime Ministers. Alex then studied philosophy and psychology at Oxford University (1997-2000), where he joined the university’s blind tasting team in 1999, captaining it in 2000. He was also working as a van driver for Oddbins, a quirky UK wine retailer which played a key role in transforming the UK high street wine buying experience from fear-inducing to fun.

In 2000 Alex graduated, having been awarded Oxford University’s Gibbs Prize in Philosophy. He then joined London-based wine merchant Mayfair Cellars, holding both buying and sales roles, before moving to Berkmann Wine Cellars in 2006, where he is currently (Jan 2018) purchasing director. In 2001 he was awarded the David Burroughs Scholarship by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. In November 2002 he was awarded both the Davies/Langton Award by the Vintners’ Company and the McNie Tasting Trophy by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. In September 2003 he was awarded the Institute of Masters of Wine Sainsbury’s scholarship. In 2010 he became a Master of Wine, having submitted a dissertation on ripeness trends in California. He received the Madame Bollinger Medal for excellence in the tasting exam. From 2012 to 2016 he wrote a regular column on taste and tasting for JancisRobinson.com.