DoILikeIt

Who started DoILikeIt?


Three of the UK’s leading wine professionals: Judy Kendrick, Hazel Murphy, and Robert Joseph, with over 75 years experience in wine between them.

Hazel Murphy AM


Hazel started her wine life with the Australian Trade Office when she determined that wine from Australia had a great opportunity in the UK.  At that time what was available and affordable for a new generation of wine drinkers was either sweet and unlike wine, or so acidic that few could drink more than a glass. Having outlined her belief to Australian wine producers, Murphy was challenged to prove she was right and grow exports from a million bottles per year, a level that at that time barely featured on the official statistics. To achieve this, she took a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, she focused on building awareness of Australian wine among journalists and professionals, and on the other, she set out to demonstrate to large numbers of consumers just how good the wines could be.

Over the space of less than a decade, Hazel Murphy and her team poured Australian wine for over 250,000 people in venues ranging from food and wine exhibitions to agricultural shows and sporting events. This was not a one-way process. The team listened to the comments and reactions and passed them onto the wine producers who took account of them when making their next vintage, and deciding how to package it. By the time Hazel Murphy left the Australian Wine Bureau in 2003, Australian wine had become part of the daily life in the UK. British consumers were drinking over 750,000 bottles per day. Hazel Murphy’s efforts were recognised by the awarding of an Order of Australia – a rare honour for a non-Australian, and in 2004 she became the inaugural Honorary Australian of the Year.

Since leaving the Australian Wine Bureau, Hazel Murphy has acted as a consultant for a number of wine producers and is a regular speaker at trade conferences across the world. Her interest in the DoILikeIt? concept from the outset was its focus on understanding what makes consumers buy and enjoy the wines they do – and what drives wine retailers and sommeliers when making their choice of what to sell.

Robert Joseph


Robert developed an interest in wine while growing up in his parent’s hotel in Sussex and has described by Decanter magazine as one of the 50 people who would influence wine drinking in the 21st century.

Former wine correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph and founder of Wine International Magazine and the International Wine Challenges in London, China, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, India, Poland and Russia. His 27 books include the Complete Encyclopaedia of Wine, Bordeaux and its Wines and The Art of the Wine Label.

Robert’s expert knowledge of consumer tastes have been exploited in the production and international distribution of successful ranges of branded wines such as le Grand Noir and Greener Planet. His broad understanding of the wine business has been reflected in invitations to address audiences ranging from the Australian Wine marketing Conference (at which he made the keynote speech) to the INAO in France and the Institute of Masters of Wine. He is now Editor at Large of Meininger’s Wine Business International.

Over more than 25 years, Robert Joseph has grown increasingly aware of the crucial importance of trying to understand the reactions of both professionals and consumers to the experience of seeing, handling and drinking wine.

Judy Kendrick


Judy began her career in the wine industry when she launched a specialist wholesale/retail company called Haughton Fine Wines in 1986. Within four years, the firm had been named Northern Wine Merchant of the Year, an award that it won again in 1991 and 1992.

Haughton Fine Wines grew to become Haughton Agencies which represented some of the world’s top independent producers such as Cullen, Ridge, Mas de Daumas Gassac, Martinborough Vineyard, Mountadam and Saintsbury.

In 1996, Judy shifted her focus from selling wine to helping to market it at trade exhibitions such as the highly successful SITT (Specialist Importers Trade Tasting), BWT (Boutique Wineries Tasting) and Major Buyers Tastings, and consumer events such as The Big Tasting with Oz Clarke, Viniportugal and Waitrose.

This last venture, seen to be the largest wine tasting in the world, makes extensive use of Judy’s and her associates’ expertise in social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc) and involves thousands of wine drinkers across the UK.

Judy’s experience in all of these fields makes her a crucial member of the DoILikeIt? team.