Writer, lecturer and consultant on Vintage Port, Madeira Wine, and the
wines of Spain and Portugal.
‘‘University theses can be pretty abstruse at the best of times. One wonders then whether Richard Mayson knew how useful his thesis on Microclimates of the Vineyards of the Douro Valley (written at the tender age of 21) would be later on in life. After working for the Wine Society for five years he wrote Portugals Wines and Wine Makers (Ebury Press, London 1992) and no doubt he found his labours very fruitful indeed. He is now one of the most respected authorities on Port, Sherry, Madeira and the wines of Spain and Portugal. He writes and lectures on wine and divides his time between London, Portugal and a family business in the Derbyshire. Peak District’. - from Decanter Magazine
After graduating from the University of Sheffield in 1983, Richard Mayson began his career working for The Wine Society (Britain’s oldest and most respected wine club) and won the Vintner’s Company Scholarship in 1987. Richard specialises in the wines of Iberia (especially fortified wines) and has written five books on wine including The Wines and Vineyards of Portugal (winner of the André Simon Award 2003) Port and the Douro (2013) and Madeira The Islands and their Wines (2015 – short listed for the André Simon Award). His most recent book is The Wines of Portugal published by the A Library where he is Series Editor. Richard writes regularly for The World of Fine Wine and Decanter magazines, chairing the Port and Madeira panels in the Decanter World Wine Awards. He also contributes to the Oxford Companion to Wine. In recognition of his services to the Port wine trade, Richard Mayson is a Cavaleiro of the Confraria do Vinho do Porto and was promoted to Fidalgo in 2024.
In 2004 Richard bought a vineyard near Portalegre in the Alto Alentejo region of Portugal where he began producing three red wines named Pedra Basta, Duas Pedras and Pedra e Alma. The property and business were sold to Sogrape, Portugal’s largest wine producers, in 2018. Married, with three children, Richard Mayson lives in the Peak District, North Derbyshire. He was Pro-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield from 2018 to 2021 and a member of Council from 2013.
He is also interested in Twentieth Century art and architecture and wrote a book on the artist L.S. Lowry, Lowry’s Lamps, published by Unicorn Press in 2021. Richard is currently preparing a new edition of his book on Madeira as well as a new book on a Lowry contemporary, Trevor Grimshaw.