Where are they now? Jo Ahearne MW – from Cockney roots to global winemaking trailblazer

From East London beginnings to shaping wines across the world, Jo Ahearne MW has built a career on curiosity, authenticity and a refusal to compromise. Today, she’s turning her attention to the exciting evolution of English and Welsh wine.

A true Cockney, Jo Ahearne MW was born in Stepney into a family where food — though simple — was always part of the conversation. Wine, too, was present. A formative moment came when Jo was just five: on a family stopover en route to Cornwall, her mother ordered a glass of wine, only to be offered Black Tower. When the waiter pressed, Jo cut in: “My mum and dad don’t drink that sort of stuff.” She may not have known yet what fine wine was, but she already knew what it wasn’t. She learned to cook early, poring over her mother’s Cordon Bleu magazines and obsessing over lasagne and peas Lyonnaise. This early fascination with flavour would become the foundation of her career in wine.

Finding direction in wine

After studying mathematics at Swansea University — later adding Russian and social statistics — Jo found herself adrift, working stints in retail, local government and even money markets (“alien to me as a socialist”). A spell as a chalet girl and a food venture with The Bubble Theatre followed. Then, in 1990, came a turning point: she joined Oddbins in High Holborn, then Islington, and discovered not just a career, but a community. She earned her WSET Diploma and, aware that her accent and lack of contacts could be barriers, decided to go further: to learn winemaking from the ground up.

Encouraged by Tim Atkin MW, she boldly approached the Australian stand at the London Wine Trade Fair. Barossa legends Bob McLean and Charlie Melton offered her a chance. In 1992, she set off for South Australia with little more than a suitcase and bags of determination.

Her first vintage was transformative: “I was the only rat in the cellar. I did everything. I wasn’t complaining, I was just so grateful to be there.” Tasting five barrels from the same ferment and finding each one different sparked her curiosity — she wanted to understand why. Determined to formalise her skills, she sold her saxophone for a plane ticket and enrolled at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. With just $150 to her name, she supported herself through pub and restaurant jobs while completing vintages at Pipers Brook, Bailey’s of Glenrowan, Leasingham and Tintara.

From boutique cellars to industrial scale

By the late 1990s, Jo was assistant winemaker with Charlie Melton, before moving to Jacob’s Creek in Griffith to gain large-scale experience under Chief Winemaker Phil Laffer. There she learned about blending, consistency and brand-led winemaking at an industrial scale. “In one year, temperatures soared to 49°C, and at night it would ‘cool down’ to 42°C. It was a real challenge to try to get the best out of grapes that were not necessarily great,” she recalls. Lessons in pH management, classification tastings and stylistic allocations remained with her.

Through the early 2000s, Jo expanded her global experience: as a flying winemaker in Spain and the Gers, and with a vintage at Château Suduiraut in Bordeaux, where she was fascinated by the delicate art of botrytis and selective picking. In 2003, “the worst vintage ever”, she went to work at Mont Tauch Co-operative in Tuchan at a time when Katie Jones (now of Domaine Jones) was in PR and marketing.

Buying and blending for Marks & Spencer

In 2004, her career took a new turn as she became a buyer and blender for Marks & Spencer. “It was fantastic. I remember the first press tasting. There was a little corner for the buyers and I was even excited about the M&S biscuits we were eating; we didn’t have money for that sort of luxury when I was growing up.” It was a platform to bring international wines to British consumers in fresh, adventurous ways. Blending wines in Chile, Argentina, France, Italy, Hungary, and beyond, the role combined her global experience with an eye for accessibility: “Everywhere you went, you got to work with a winemaker you respected.”

Working with colleagues Gerd Stepp and Sue Daniels, she helped transform the retailer’s range, steering it away from the ordinary and toward wines of character. “This was the time when the M&S wines were taking off as interesting and not the same old boring vanilla.” She remembers Jancis Robinson MW praising her Petit Chablis as better than many a Chablis and being asked why her Chilean wines outshone Cono Sur. Recognition followed: in 2008, M&S was named IWC Wine Merchant of the Year. In 2008, Jo became a Master of Wine, a goal she had been chasing since Oddbins. “Those letters are a suit of armour,’ she recalls. ‘Suddenly the red-trouser brigade thought, oh, she does know what she’s talking about.”

Head of wine at Harrods

After adding a Pecorino, a Pedro Ximenez from Chile and a first pink Prosecco in the country, Jo decamped to Harrods in 2011 as head of wine and spirits buying. Jancis Robinson MW rang her and warned her not to be in the same room as Al Fayed, but by that stage, Fayed had already sold to the Qataris. The experience of the fine wine world at its most rarefied reshaped her view: “Fine wine isn’t about labels — it’s about personality, elegance, depth, truth.”

Leaving Harrods in 2012, she began working independently, blending and consulting for wineries across Europe, including projects in Macedonia, Romania, Beaujolais, Hungary and Provence. The new phase brought flexibility, but also reignited a desire to make her own wine. In 2014, a tasting in Split introduced Jo to the wines of Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. A chance encounter led her to Hvar, a picturesque island. Jo was captivated by the indigenous varieties and the potential to bring them to a wider audience. Small-lot wines from indigenous grapes like Plavac Mali and Pošip and wines made from up to 12 months skin contact were gaining recognition — until the pandemic froze exports in 2020.

Back to the UK

In 2021, she joined Boutinot as a buyer, relocating to Manchester (“It rained for 21 days straight when I arrived, but I love Manchester and bought a house there”) before leaving in 2024 to return to winemaking and consultancy.

Her latest focus is close to home: the evolution of English and Welsh wine. A Gusbourne Chardonnay impressed her with its Burgundian depth; a Welsh red from Vale in North Wales surprised her with its freshness and crunch. Conversations with peers such as Tim Wildman MW, who advised on the potential pitfalls of using a contract winemaking facility, encouraged her exploration of the UK’s emerging wine scene.

A common thread

Looking back, a common thread runs through Jo’s career: insatiable curiosity, a refusal to compromise on authenticity, and a belief that wine should be expressive, accessible and true. Embarking on her next chapter in the UK, Jo continues to follow the same instinct she showed as a child: knowing what’s worth drinking — and having the courage to say so.

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