After working in London as a secretary for 11 years, Liz’s first wine job was with Rigby & Evens (Wine Shippers) in 1974, where she was hired as a general manager of Mary Quant’s mail order wine company.

Her first role as a wine buyer was with Green’s of the Royal Exchange in 1981, at the heart of the City of London. he big time, however, was Liz’s tenure at Safeway Supermarkets UK from 1987 to 2000 where she was a senior wine buyer.

Liz subsequently joined Angela Muir MW’s consultancy Cellarworld International, and separate to that, worked as a consultant to St Austell Brewery and Vintellect, among others.

Memories from Masters of Wine

By Angela Muir MW

She had a flair for tact and diplomacy, endless patience and a terrific sense of the absurd. Ever an optimistic, she also had a cool, calm approach to life, with all its irritations and vagaries, that was an enormous comfort to me. I could talk things through with her whenever I was getting a bit too close to blowing my top. Most of all, she was great company and generous to a fault. I think she was probably most at home at Greens and I still remember as a highlight of my wine trade life the lunch they gave her in their offices when she got her MW. They were so thrilled and gratified for her. We all were.

By Mark Savage MW

I was always particularly pleased and happy to see Liz at MW events. We knew each other for a long time since her Safeway days and work on the education and examination committees.