Edward co-founded Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting in Beijing with his wife and partner Fongyee Walker MW in 2007. Having read English at Oxford University, Edward began blind-tasting at Cambridge whilst writing an M.Phil. and, later, Ph.D. dissertation on American poet and Burgundy tippler Wallace Stevens (1879-1955). A former Captain and Coach of the Cambridge Blind-Tasting team, Edward co-wrote (with Fongyee) and revises regularly 'The Cambridge University Guide to Blind-Tasting' (2004-present). He has published widely in international wine magazines, literary journals and has authored several collections of poetry (www.edwardragg.com): poetry being his principal focus as a writer. Edward is also the author of 'Wallace Stevens and the Aesthetics of Abstraction' (Cambridge University Press, 2010), which partly analysed Stevens' relationship with wine.

Formerly a Professor at Tsinghua University (2007-2017), Edward completed his WSET Diploma in 2012 and began his MW studies in 2015. He became a Master of Wine in 2019 and won the Robert Mondavi Award for the best performance across the MW Theory papers and the Quinta do Noval Award for the best MW research paper (2019 examination). Together with Fongyee, he is one of the most experienced tutors of the WSET Diploma in mainland China. Edward has also served as co-coordinator of the IMW's Australasian programme working with Andrea Pritzker MW and Annette Lacey MW to facilitate the residential seminar in Adelaide for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 MW students (2020-2024).

From 2020-2024 Edward was the reviewer of Chinese wines for The Robert Parker Wine Advocate. Edward also has extensive judging experience and serves as Regional Chair for Asia for the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA). He has also acted as guest international judge for the McLaren Vale Wine Show (2012), the Royal Perth Wine Show (2019), the Wine Show of Western Australia (2024) and the Hunter Valley Wine Show (2025), as well as judging various Chinese competitions. Edward is keen to expand his international judging experience further and has in recent years developed his Mandarin Chinese to deliver wine classes and presentations across mainland China.

Primary area(s) of work: Communication

Industry sector(s): Academic, Author, Business owner, Consultant, Educator, Events, Journalism, Performing arts, Wine judge, Wine tourism

Wine region expertise: Australia, China

Market expertise: China

Specialisms: Education, Events, Wine marketing research, Wine tourism, Wine judging