Jennifer Docherty MW
Head of Buying and Education at Summergate Fine Wines & Spirits
Jennifer Docherty became the first ethnically Chinese and Mandarin-speaking individual to achieve the prestigious Master of Wine title in 2015, and is currently Head of Buying and Education at Greater China’s leading wine company, Summergate Fine Wines and Spirits, influencing tens of thousands consumers’ buying choices.
Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, she left at 18 to study fashion design in New York, and worked for years in London before calling Hong Kong home.
Docherty has been working in the wine business for more than 14 years with roles in sales, fine wine trading and buying. Before moving to Hong Kong, she worked in the wine business in the UK for over 12 years and selected wines and sake for the renowned UK and Irish importer Liberty Wines as their buyer.
In 2018, she moved to the Asian wine hub to explore the Asian drinks market, and was appointed Head of Buying and Education for Summergate Fine Wines and Spirits, a major importer of China exclusively representing about 70 brands across its 10 offices in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. Her team also provides training to staff and customers.
Alongside wine business, Docherty judges for numerous international competitions including the IWC Sake Competition and Decanter World Wine Awards; assists in MW education programmes and writes about wine for DecanterChina.com.
Apart from wine, she also holds the SSI Master of Sake and WSET Level 3 Award in sake.
I must commend Debra for setting up WineSpit which helped educate the wine industry in Hong Kong, she gives back to the Industry selflessly time and time again.