Majestic’s wine buying manager heads to Tesco

Kelly, who has been the buying manager at Majestic Wine since January 2022, take on the new role at Tesco, which includes responsibility for France and South Africa across both still and sparkling wines.

She started her career at Oddbins and Unwin's upmarket wine merchant, Phillips Newman, before spending six years managing events at the WSET. She later moved to the commercial side, joining the wine buying team at M&S in 2012, where she undertook her Master of Wine course, qualifying as an MW in 2020.  Joining Majestic Wine in January 2021, her most recent role as buying manager saw her overseeing the sparkling wine category, as well as South Africa, Burgundy, and Italy.

Kelly said she was excited about working in a role that helped to "inform and influence the wine preferences of much of the nation" as well as learning from the skilled, knowledgeable and "very well regarded" Tesco wine team.

"From my experience in the wider industry, I see the Tesco wine team as being very well regarded for their expertise, both from suppliers and wine writers. Whilst I am bringing my depth and breadth of experience to Tesco, I am equally eager to learn from such a skilled and knowledgeable team whose expertise will undoubtedly enhance my professional growth. I also greatly admire Tesco’s commitment to community and sustainability - a focus on sustainability is essential to me in any organisation I work with, particularly as my MW research paper was dedicated to this topic.

Graham Nash, Tesco's wine product development manager noted her wealth of knowledge and experience and reputation within the trade as he welcomed to the team. "I know that she will prove herself to be an invaluable member of the team as we continue to evolve our wine range for customers," he said.