Majestic bolsters buying team with second Master of Wine

Majestic, the UK’s largest specialist wine retailer, has announced that Jane Masters MW is the second Master of Wine to join its buying team.

Masters became a Master of Wine in 1997 and was elected as chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine in September 2016.

She has now joined Majestic, the UK’s largest specialist wine retailer, as buying manager, joining fellow Master of Wine Elizabeth Kelly under the leadership of trading director John Storm and COO Robert Cooke.

Masters said of her new role: “I am very excited to be joining Majestic Wine. As the UK’s largest specialist wine retailer, I love the team’s passion and wine focus, and the aim to share that passion with customers – delivering a fantastic range of wines with great customer service. Majestic has a great reputation, lots of ambition, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Masters originally trained as a winemaker at the Institute of Oenology in Bordeaux, and worked in wine production in France before moving into UK retail.

During her 11 years at Marks & Spencer, Masters held key roles including category manager wines & drinks, and technical manager wines & drinks. She then set up her Mastering Wine consulting business in 2004.

Within her new role Masters will oversee the buying of Bordeaux, Loire, Spain and Portugal at Majestic — categories which the wine retailer believes will be key in 2023.

Majestic chief operating officer Robert Cooke said of the new appointment: “We are delighted to welcome Jane to Majestic. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, all of which will help us further deliver on our mission to help our customers discover and buy wines that they love.”

A report released at the start of this year from marketing agency Salience revealed the top trends in online alcohol sales throughout 2022, and named Majestic as the top online alcohol retailer. Read more on that here.