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Sarah Jane Evans MW is a British wine writer, journalist, educator, consultant and wine judge, with particular expertise in the wines of Spain and in Sherry. Based in the United Kingdom, she became a Master of Wine in 2006 and received the Robert Mondavi Winery Award for achieving the highest overall marks in the Master of Wine Theory examination. She later served as Chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine from 2014 to 2016.

Evans studied Classics and Social & Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She began her professional career in book publishing before moving into food and wine journalism. She subsequently spent a decade as Associate Editor of BBC Good Food magazine, during which period her developing interest in wine became an increasingly significant part of her career. She has described undertaking wine studies while at the magazine and later deciding to pursue the Master of Wine programme as an important point in her transition towards specialising professionally in wine.

Spain has become one of the central subjects of Evans’s work as a writer, commentator and consultant. Her association with the country began before university, when she spent part of a gap year near Madrid, and she continued visiting Spain in subsequent years. Her professional interests encompass Spanish wine, gastronomy and culture, with Sherry becoming a particular area of specialisation. Her Master of Wine dissertation concerned Sherry and the Almacenista producers of the region, and she is a certified Sherry educator.

Her books relating to Spain include Seville, The Wines of Northern Spain and The Wines of Central and Southern Spain. The latter explores the wines, grape varieties, winemaking traditions and producers of central, southern and Mediterranean Spain, as well as the Canary and Balearic Islands. Alongside Spain, her stated wine interests include Greece, the Americas, and fortified and sweet wines.

Evans has held a number of positions within the international wine community. She is Co-Chairman of the Decanter World Wine Awards and Chairman of the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino. Her professional activities have also included international wine judging, conference speaking, education and consultancy. She is a Trustee of the André Simon Book Award and a Series Editor of the Classic Wine Library.

Her work relating to Spain has received several forms of recognition. She has been named a Dama de Albariño and Dama de Solear and has received the Officer’s Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic. The latter decoration was presented to her at the Spanish Embassy in London in January 2024; Evans states that the award was granted by King Felipe VI and the Grand Chancellor, Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Beyond wine, Evans has a longstanding professional interest in food, taste and flavour. She is a founder member of the Academy of Chocolate and the author of Chocolate Unwrapped. Her work in both wine and food has included an emphasis on tasting and on encouraging consumers to develop confidence in their own ability to assess flavour.

Across her writing, judging, education and consultancy, Evans is particularly associated with communicating the diversity of Spanish wine and with bringing attention to regions, varieties and wine styles beyond Spain’s best-known established categories. Her work combines this specialism with broader experience across wine publishing, education, tasting and international wine judging.