Emma Dawson passed her Master of Wine exam in 2017 having received the Derouet Jameson scholarship to study on the programme after completing her diploma at WSET. Her final research paper was on the Lebanese wine industry, a region she became interested in after an initial visit to buy wines for Marks and Spencer in 2012. She has maintained a strong interest across her career at studying emerging wine regions with particular focus on the Eastern Mediterranean; including Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. Her travels have taken her to even more diverse wine regions such as Japan, Bolivia and Uruguay.

Over her ten years at Marks and Spencer she managed buying for South America, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italy and the fine wine range. During that time her remit allowed her to invest heavily in fine wine including three campaigns for Bordeaux En Primeur and purchase of barrels at the annual Hospices de Beaune auctions.

Outside of her role at Berkmann she has regularly taught wine buying and negotiation skills at wine business schools in France. During the pandemic she developed a virtual wine tasting course that grew to over 100 regular participants. And prior to that time she developed an online learning portal with her partner to assist novice wine drinkers in learning about grape varieties called www.52grapes.com.