ABOUT

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Will Lyons has one of the finest palates in these islands.

THE SPECTATOR

ABOUT WILL

WRITER | BROADCASTER | JOURNALIST

Will writes a weekly wine column for The Sunday Times, is host of the Wine Times podcast and is Vice President of The Sunday Times Wine Club. Prior to that he was wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

He has been writing for National newspapers for more than two decades and his work has been published in a variety of publications including The Scotsman, The Australian, Scotland on Sunday, The Reader’s Digest, The Spectator and Decanter.

Will has won awards for both his writing and broadcasting and has broadcast for a variety of outlets including the BBC, Times Radio, talkRADIO and Reuters.

Born in the Summer of 1976, Will grew up on a farm in West Berkshire and was educated at Bradfield College followed by Edinburgh University. It was here that he began wine tasting seriously as President of the University Wine Society and founder of the annual Edinburgh v St Andrews blind wine tasting fixture. His introduction to wine came several years earlier in his penultimate year at Bradfield College where he was a member of the wine tasting society La Confrérie, an experience he later described as ‘a surprisingly serious approach to wine for a seventeen-year-old.’
He began his career in London as a fine wine merchant working on St James’ Street, where he developed a deep love for the classic wines of Europe. He has worked for several fine wine merchants including Justerini & Brooks, Lea & Sandeman and Berry Bros. & Rudd.

Prior to the WSJ, for several years Will worked as a Columnist and Business Correspondent at The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday where he covered the drinks, leisure and retail industries for the Business Pages.

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Known for his discerning palate and accurate predictions, Will is also an accomplished blind wine taster and has lectured on the art of wine appreciation at Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities.

In 2014 he co-authored Selecting, Drinking, Collecting & Obsessing A Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine with fellow Wall Street Journal wine writer Lettie Teague.

He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, a past president of the Edinburgh University Wine Society, a Commanderie de Bordeaux and a Freeman of the Vintners’ Company.

Readers of Alexander McCall Smith will know Will from his numerous cameo appearances as a real-life character in Corduroy Mansions and the 44 Scotland Street novels where as a wine expert he advises the hapless Bruce on the perils of the wine trade.