JUDGES BY REGION
CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
Steven Spurrier
Decanter’s consultant editor joined the wine trade in London in 1964, later moving to Paris where he bought a wine shop in 1971 and opened France’s first private wine school, L’Academie du Vin, in 1973. Spurrier staged the historic 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting between wines from California and France. In the 1980s he wrote several wine books and created the Christie’s Wine Course with Michael Broadbent, in 1988 returning to the UK to focus on consultancy and writing. His awards include: Decanter Hall of Fame Award 2017, La Personnalité de l’Année (oenology) 1988 for services to French wine, and the Maestro Award 2011 in honour of California legend André Tchelistcheff. Spurrier is honorary president of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and the owner of Dorset’s Bride Valley Vineyard. In 2019 he co-founded the Académie du Vin Library, a publishing venture to reissue past publications and to create the best new books for the future, the first being the commemorative edition of Broadbent’s seminal Wine Tasting.
CO-CHAIR
Sarah Jane Evans MW
Evans is an award-winning journalist who began writing about wine in the 1980s. She started drinking Sherry and Spanish wine while a student at Cambridge University. This sparked her lifelong love of Spain’s wines, food and culture, culminating in membership of the Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino for services to Spanish wine. In 2006 she became a Master of Wine, writing her dissertation on Sherry and winning the Robert Mondavi Winery Award. A past chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine, Evans divides her time between writing for magazines such as Decanter, writing books and judging internationally.
CO-CHAIR
Michael Hill Smith MW
In 1988, Hill Smith became the first Australian to pass the Master of Wine examination, winning the inaugural Madame Bollinger Tasting Medal in the same year. Co-founder of Shaw & Smith in the Adelaide Hills and Tolpuddle Vineyard in Tasmania, Hill Smith is a respected international wine judge and a wine consultant to Singapore Airlines. He is also a tireless advocate for Australian fine wine and in 2008 was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to the Australian wine industry. In addition to his co-Chair role at the DWWA he is also a Vice-Chair at the DAWA.
CO-CHAIR
Andrew Jefford
Jefford has judged in every edition of DWWA and the Decanter Asia Wine Awards. He has been writing and broadcasting about wine – as well as food, whisky, travel and perfume – since the 1980s, winning numerous awards including eight Roederer Awards and eight Glenfiddich Awards. He writes a monthly column and occasional features for Decanter magazine, and his books include Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course (new edition 2018) and Peat Smoke and Spirit on Islay and its whiskies, republished in 2019 as Whisky Island, as well as the acclaimed classic The New France (2002). He also acts as academic advisor to The Wine Scholar Guild.
ALSACE
REGIONAL CHAIR
Thierry Meyer
Alsace born and bred, Meyer began writing about wine in 1999, sharing tasting notes and insights into the wines of Alsace online. In 2001, he started his signature dinner series, dedicated to pairing Alsace wines with fine food. He then founded L’Oenothèque Alsace society in 2006 and launched www.oenoalsace.com, one of the most comprehensive websites dedicated to the region’s wines. At the same time Meyer launched a programme of masterclasses and dinners with Alsace wines. From 2007 to 2011, Meyer was a contributing editor to the Bettane + Desseauve Guide des Vins. In 2014 he took responsibility for the new Alsace Master-level education program for the Wine Scholar Guild.
JUDGES
■ Marcel Orford-Williams ■ Aristide Spies
