Judges

Adam Michocki

Manager & Head Sommelier

The Man Behind The Curtain

Anja Breit

Independent Sommelier

abWINEconsulting

An independent sommelier with more than 10 years of experience in the London wine trade, Anja has worked for Gordon Ramsay (Maze), Zuma as well as the Ledbury restaurant where she was head sommelier from 2012-2015. Anja is a certified WSET educator and trains restaurant teams. She also consults on wine lists for restaurants, hosts private dinners and wine tastings. Anja holds the WSET Diploma as well as the Court of Master Sommelier Advanced certificate and is currently studying for her Master Sommelier Diploma.

Chris Delalonde MS

Head of Wines

The Dorchester

Claire Love

Wine Consultant

Loves Consultancy

Having previously owned restaurants for 15 years, Claire now designs wine lists, assists wine buyers and trains front of house teams and sommeliers in independent restaurants across the Midlands. She has judged for SWA since 2011 and is currently studying at the Institute of Masters of Wine.

Diana Rollan

Group Head of Beverage

D&D

Diana has been in the wine trade for over 18 years. Working previously as wine buyer at Hakkasan Group, she has recently joined D&D as group head of beverage.

Emanuel Pesqueira

Food and Beverage Operations Manager

Edwardian Hotels London

Emanuel is an experienced food and beverage manager with a demonstrated history of working in the hospitality industry. He is skilled in wine, catering, the hospitality industry, event management and beverage and menu costing. He is a strong operations professional and has experience working in cruise liners, hotels and private members’ clubs.

Guillaume Mahaut

Wine Buyer

ETM Group

Harry Crowther

Freelance Consultant

Grape Times UK

Immacolata Cannavo

Head Sommelier

Hakkasan Mayfair

Immacolata is an experienced head sommelier with a demonstrated history of working in the hospitality industry. Skilled in catering, menu engineering, restaurant management, food & beverage and new restaurant openings. She is a strong operations professional certified Court Master Sommelier and obtained WSET level 3 Sake as well as being a WSET educator.

Mattia Mazzi

Restaurant Manager & Sommelier

Cornerstone

Mattia is currently the sommelier at the River Café, as well as studying towards his Master Sommelier advanced exam. Mattia started his wine journey many years ago in Australia. His ambition took him to London, where he successfully ran the opening and operations of some fantastic venues, mostly fine-dining establishments. Mattia turned his focus on the world of wine, and after a stint a Vinoteca he aimed to polish his skills by working towards the renowned Master Sommelier title.

Michael Fiducia

Club Head Sommelier

The Royal Automobile Club

To say I have been round the block, is probably an understatement... I started my Sommelier career in 2007 as a commis, I have worked for some amazing Michelin Starred restaurants and I returned to where I consider myself at home, the Royal Automobile Club as the Club Head Sommelier. I return for my third year as a Senior judge with SWA.

Nigel Lister

Sommelier

St. Swithins Wine Shippers

Nigel has worked with some of London's best restaurants including; Asia de Cuba, Royal Thames Yacht Club, The Ledbury, Bread Street Kitchen, The York & Albany.

Olivier Gasselin

Director of Trade

OenoTrade

Olivier has been in the wine trade since 2001 and is an experienced sommelier, with stints in the UK, the Middle-East and Asia. He is now based in London and has been with Oenotrade since April 2019. He is a long-standing SWA judge and has been Senior Judge for the last 3 years.

Olivier Marie

Consultant

Freelance

Raphael Thierry

Wine Consultant

Self Employed

Rémi Cousin

Head Sommelier

Le Gavroche

Rémi is currently the head sommelier at Michel Roux Jr’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Gavroche. Prior to this Rémi worked for 8 years as assistant sommelier at Heston Blumenthal’s three Michelin-starred restaurant, The Fat Duck. Rémi won the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs UK young sommelier award in 2011 and holds the title of Advanced Sommelier from The Court of Master Sommeliers. From a very young age Rémi always thought he wanted to become a chef. However, after a short spell in the kitchen of the George V in Paris, he took a different route and went onto join Le Meurice as trainee sommelier where he tasted for the first time a Château d'Yquem 1988. It was then that Rémi knew he had found his career path! Rémi moved to the UK in 2004 where he started working at the Hotel du Vin in York and in Bristol.

Romain de Courcy

Bar Manager

The Ritz Paris

Romain is the beverage manager at Gazelle in Mayfair where he carefully curates a progressive drinks list and spends most of his time talking to guests, sharing his taste for the finer things in life. After business studies in France, the UK and the USA Romain started what promised to be a successful career in luxury fashion. On the side he regularly hosted cocktail parties for a select few friends and what began as a hobby quickly became his true calling. Two years ago he took a leap of faith and started over as a bartender for The Drink Factory, one of the most highly-regarded companies in the industry. On this new path Romain discovered a passion for hospitality and exceptional wines.

Sue Jones

Owner

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn

Sue bought The Harrow at Little Bedwyn with her husband Roger in December 1998. They created a destination restaurant in the countryside majoring on the finest food, a substantial amount of wines (most recently 900) and professional but relaxed service. Sue ran the front of house team at The Harrow and over the last 10 years, developed and run annual events such as the Tri-Nations Wine Challenge, the Mamba Awards and the World Sparkling Challenge at The Harrow and all over the world. The restaurant shut in March 2020 to allow Sue to pursue other challenges, but food and wine remain very close to her heart.

Tanguy Martin

Wine Director

Blandford Comptoir, Cabotte, Greenwich Kitchen

Tanguy joined the London scene around 3 years ago and is now managing the wine department for 4 separate outlets in Liverpool Street, a challenging and exciting position. Tanguy started studying winemaking and wine growing from the young age of 16. He has been lucky to have worked beside Gérard Basset MW OBE for several years.

Valentin Radosav

Head Sommelier

Gymkhana Restaurant London

Valentin is the current head sommelier at Gymkhana Restaurant London. Valentin's past experience includes working at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London for two years, one year at Burj Al Arab in Dubai and one year at Purnell's Restaurant in Birmingham. He is an advanced sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, a WSET Diploma Graduate, winner of Sud de France Sommelier Competition in 2016, winner of Bellavita Best UK Sommelier 2017, part of winning team at the Chile Wine Bar War in 2015 at Imbibe Live.