Julie Arkell is a wine writer, broadcaster and journalist.  Her background in the wine trade includes roles as Head of Wine at Guinness, Regional Wine Development Manager for Scottish & Newcastle Breweries, and Manager of The Sunday Times Wine Club. 

Her books include Classic Rum, New World Wines: The Complete Guide, The Wine Drinker's Handbook, Collins Need to Know? - Wine, Collins Gem Wine, and she co-wrote the hugely popular Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure.  

Julie has been a wine writer for 25 years starting with her own column in Saturday Express.  She was drinks correspondent for both the Daily and Sunday Express, and has also contributed to The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Express Magazine, Sainsbury’s Magazine, Tesco Wine Club, BBC Good Food, handbag.com, Wine International, Harpers,  Decanter, Candis, Websters publishing, jancisrobinson.com, At Home With Antony Worrall Thompson, James Martin Magazine and many others.  She also edited drinks magazine Cheers with Oz Clarke and Salvatore Calabrese.

Julie’s broadcasting career spans the worlds of drink, food and travel where she has appeared as presenter and guest for BBC, Channel 5, Sky, Carlton Food Network, and on BBC national and local radio. 

Her awards include prizes for the WSET Higher Certificate and Diploma exams, and a Brown Brothers MW Scholarship.  Julie is a past Chairman of The Circle of Wine Writers.

A frequent speaker, Julie adopts a no-nonsense, fun approach to wine tastings and is willing and able to tackle all drinks subjects, tailoring her presentation to suit any audience. She has lectured on cruise ships including QE2 (Cunard), the Black Watch (Fred Olsen), Aurora (P&O) and Artemis (P&O), as well as for Abruzzo Wine Consortium in Italy, and BBC Good Food Show.  She currently hosts regular consumer tastings for Tesco supermarkets around the UK.

Julie is also a sought-after judge at many international wine competitions including the New York Classic, Quality Drink Awards, Great Taste Awards, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and Concours Mondial au Chile.

She was instrumental in designing the successful Passport To Wine & Food weekends for CenterParcs and continues to host popular wine tasting packages for private and corporate events.