Born and raised in rural Maine, USA, Lisa graduated from Colby College, ME, with degrees in English Literature and Performing Arts. Her wine career began by happenstance when, living as a struggling playwright in London after college, she was offered a job as the manager of a wine bar. Upon acquiring the position, she promptly enrolled for classes at the WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) and continued her studies with them until achieving the institution’s highest accreditation level: Diploma. Lisa progressed through wine sales and marketing roles in the UK wine trade throughout the ‘90s and early noughties before moving to Tokyo in 2002, where she worked as a wine buyer for one of Japan's top fine wine importers and a wine educator at Tokyo's Academie du Vin. In 2008, Lisa moved to Singapore and began writing a column for Robert Parker’s website, eRobertParker.com. Later that year she achieved her Master of Wine (MW) qualification and the Madame Bollinger Medal for excellence in wine tasting.

In 2013, she became the Editor-in-Chief for Robert Parker Wine Advocate and RobertParker.com and remains the publication’s critic for the wines of Bordeaux and Napa Valley and Sonoma County Bordeaux Varieties. In 2015, Lisa’s first book, Taste Like a Wine Critic: A Guide to Understanding Wine Quality, was published. In June of that year, she moved to Napa, California, to set up a new office for Robert Parker Wine Advocate. She now lives in Napa with her British husband, two young daughters and their mad Border Collie.