About
Jane Lopes is a Nashville-based sommelier, author, and importer. After graduating from the University of Chicago in 2007, Jane built a career in the wine and hospitality industry that has spanned countries, decades, and disciplines. She worked at New York's Eleven Madison Park, Nashville's The Catbird Seat, Chicago's The Violet Hour, and most recently as the wine director at Attica, one of Australia's most celebrated restaurants. Jane was featured on Esquire network's 2015 television series Uncorked, which follows six New York City sommeliers in pursuit of the Master Sommelier title (which Jane attained in 2018, one of fewer than 300 people ever to do so). In September of 2019, Jane finally put her University of Chicago literature degree to good use in publishing her first book, a personal and educational guide to wine called Vignette: Stories of Life and Wine in 100 Bottles. Through this book and other writings, Jane has written about issues in the wine industry, including mental and physical health, exploitation, sexual abuse, and corruption. In 2020, Jane and her husband Jonathan Ross co-founded their Australian wine imports company: Legend. Jane’s second book, How to Drink Australian (co-authored with her husband), published in September 2023. Jane also proudly sits on the board of the non-profit The Vinguard, which works to promote equity and sustainability in the wine industry.
Social Justice and Environmental Restoration Statement
When we founded Legend in July of 2020, we launched it alongside a set of values that we wanted to define our business, based on the following pillars: education; diversity, equity & inclusion; beneficial partnerships; addressing bias & conduct; environmental impact; and community. In the past five years, we’ve lived up to these values in many ways (and we’ve fallen short as well), but more than anything we’ve reaffirmed that these are values worth fighting for. We’ve also released four annual accountability reports so far —a way for us to stay accountable to our customers, our partners, and ourselves. We have submitted our application to become a B-Corp certified business, and hope to add that to our credentials shortly!