Judges

The International Wine Challenge (IWC) brings together many of the most important people in the wine world.

Introducing the Chairmen

Four chairmen, each of them leaders in their field, have been at the helm for this year's IWC. Between them, they taste every single medal-winning wine, ensuring that only the best succeed. They are: Tim Atkin MW, Charles Metcalfe, Sam Harrop MW, Derek Smedley MW.

For 2009 we would also like to welcome onboard our International Guest Co-Chairman Joshua Greene.

TIM ATKIN MW: Tim Atkin MW is one of Britain's leading wine writers and an internationally recognised expert on the subject. He is the wine correspondent of The Observer, where he appears every Sunday in OM, and Wine Editor at Large of OLN. He also writes for Wine & Spirit, Woman and Home, The World of Fine Wine, The Economist's Intelligent Life and Observer Food Monthly and appears on the BBC One's Saturday Kitchen.

Tim has won more than 20 awards for his journalism, including the Glenfiddich Wine Writer Award in 1988, 1990, 1993, 2004 and 2006 and the Lanson Wine Writer of the Year Award in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 2007, he was named Best Drink Journalist in the World Food Media Awards. He judges wines all over the world and runs his own wine school at Vinoteca restaurant in London.

CHARLES METCALFE: Charles Metcalfe's tasting career started at university, where he captained the Oxford tasting team to victory over Cambridge two years running.

He joined the Evening Standard wine-tasting team and co-founded Wine International (originally What Wine?, then Wine Magazine) with Robert Joseph in 1983, and they started the International Wine Challenge in 1984. He is also in demand as an international wine judge, and has judged in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and South Africa.

As well as writing books on Spanish and Portuguese wines, and on matching wine with food, Charles has been a television drinks presenter for 17 years on This Morning, Taste Today, Good Food Live, Saturday Kitchen and many other programmes. His latest book is 'The Wine & Food Lovers Guide to Portugal', written with his wife, Kathryn McWhirter.

SAM HARROP MW: Sam started his career as a trainee winemaker at Villa Maria Wines in his native New Zealand. After arriving in the UK, he became a wine buyer for Marks & Spencer, where he stayed for seven years and helped the company to transform its wine reputation. It also was during his time at this retailer that Sam passed the Master of Wine examinations at the first attempt.

Sam finally left M&S in 2004 to start his own consulting company. He now works with a number of wineries throughout Europe to improve the quality of wine destined for the export market.

DEREK SMEDLEY MW: Derek joined the wine trade in the propitious vintage of 1961, working for John Harvey in Bristol. He then moved on to work for Gilbeys, in buying and sales. In 1968, Derek passed the MW exam. His next stop was at Whitbread, starting as a buyer, but he then progressed to become managing director of the wine side.

In 1985, he started Smedley Vintners, as well as acting as a consultant for Antinori. Derek sold Smedley Vintners in 2000 and is now busy as a widely respected wine consultant. He assists the Mayoralty of London in purchases for official functions at the Guildhall, as well as buying for various City livery companies, Cambridge colleges and the Carlton Club. Derek also leads wine tours for Arblaster & Clarke. He joined as co-chairman of the IWC in 2002.

JOSHUA GREENE: Editor and Publisher of Wine & Spirits magazine since 1986, Mr. Greene has travelled extensively through the wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Australia and Chile, as well as all the major regions of the United States. As part of the magazine’s education program, he teaches classes on California wine, Bordeaux, Porto and a range of wine-related subjects to students at Harvard Business School as well as at the leading hospitality and culinary schools throughout the United States. At Wine & Spirits, in addition to his duties as editor and publisher, Mr. Greene serves as the critic for California, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Northern Italy, Portugal, Australia and South Africa, providing tasting notes and ratings for wines recommended by Wine & Spirits’ tasting panels.

Introducing the Sake Chairman

KOICHI SAURA: Koichi Saura is the President and 13th generation of his sake brewery, Urakasumi. He was the Chairman of The Japan Sake Brewers Association Junior Council (JSBA-JC) from 2005-2008, which formed The Sake Samurai Association in 2005 to enhance sake promotion and spread sake culture throughout the world.

Koichi Saura and the officers of the Sake Samurai Association have played an important role in establishing the sake category at the International Wine Challenge. Their knowledge and expertise brings a high level of integrity to the IWC and ensures that the judging process is as reputable as all the other categories.

There are four levels of judges, these are:

Panel Chairmen

The Panel Chairmen role is crucial - they control the individual tasting panels to ensure that the quality, potential and typicity of every wine is fairly, professionally and consistently assessed. The Panel Chairmen are in attendance for the full 10 days of judging and like the Chairmen, are the IWC's core group of tasters.

There are 20 Panel Chairmen and the 2009 team is as follows: 

Christine Austin: Christine is a wine writer, broadcaster and a wine judge for several international wine competitions. She has a technical background and spent five years as a buyer for a major supermarket before moving to wine writing. She writes for The Yorkshire Post, Dales Life and organises the York Festival of Food and Drink. She has won both the Lanson and the Roederer prizes for wine writing.

Richard Bampfield MW: Richard spent the first 10 years of his wine life managing wine shops in Manchester and Chester. He became a Master of Wine in 1990 and then managed Australian company Brown Brothers' UK office for 8 years. He now works in public relations for Yvon Mau in Bordeaux and Albert Bichot in Burgundy, and also works with Leiths School of Food and Wine and the English Wine Group.

Susie Barrie: Susie is a wine writer and broadcaster. She regularly appears on Saturday Kitchen (BBC1), and she writes for several magazines including Decanter and Wine & Spirit. Her books, published by Mitchell Beazley, include Wine Made Easy ‘Champagne and Sparkling Wines’, and Discovering Wine Country- Northern Spain. She is currently working on her Master of Wine dissertation.

Tom Cannavan: Tom is the Louis Roederer International Online Wine Writer of the Year 2008, and has published wine-pages.com since 1995. Tom also writes for Wine & Spirit, Off Licence News, World of Fine Wine and Decanter, and contributes to The Wine Report. Tom judges at the world's major wine competitions in Australia, Chile, Argentina, France and the UK, and Chairs the Georgian National Wine Competition.

Robin Crameri MW: Robin entered the wine trade with importers Brown Gore & Welch on Tower Hill as a student bottling, blending and tasting wine. After working in France a short while he joined brewers Greene King PLC in 1958 as wine buyer and continued in this capacity for 40 years. He passed the MW examination in 1972. Now semi-retired he acts as a consultant.

Ian D'Agata: Ian is a Research Professor of Enology at the University of New Mexico and was the recipient of the "Best young Italian wine journalist 2007" award by the Comitato Grandi Crus d'Italia. He is in charge of the Italian section for Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (along with Tanzer himself), the Co-author of the annual D'Agata & Comparini Italy's Best Wines guide, and the author of the new, upcoming Ecco guide to Italian wines published by Harper Collins USA. He is also Director of the International Wine Academy of Roma and President of the World Academy of Wine.

Joanna Delaforce: Was born in Portugal and is part of the Delaforce family. She has been involved with Port since 1983 when she helped set up Churchill’s Port in the UK. She has been in the Wine Trade since then and is now a Consultant to Mentzendorff and Co as their Port Ambassador (in particular Delaforce) and is also Brand Manager for Henriques & Henriques Madeira for Mentzendorff & Co. She has judged and tasted at all bar one of the IWC tastings, indeed a founding taster! She was also Chairman of the WSA (now WSTA) from 2003-2005.

Jamie Goode: Jamie obtained a PhD in plant biology and worked as a science editor before deciding that his passions lay with wine. He authors www.wineanorak.com, is the weekly columnist for the Sunday Express and writes for several magazines. In 2006 he won a Glenfiddich award for his first book, Wine science (Mitchell Beazeley), and in 2007 he won a second Glenfiddich award, this time as Wine Writer of the Year. Jamie is currently working on a book titled Natural wine, with Sam Harrop MW.

Conal Gregory MW: Conal qualified as a Master of Wine in 1979. He consults for major airlines and cruise operators and several estates. He writes for The Times and The Scotsman. He was Conservative MP for York 1983-92. His awards include the Mercier Champagne Scholarship. His books include The Cognac Companion and A Caterer's Guide to Drinks.

Susan Hulme MW: Susan became a Master of Wine in 2005. She was awarded the 2005 Bollinger Tasting Medal, an award not given every year, for the best tasting papers in the Master of Wine exam. She set up her company Vintuition Ltd in 2000 to run courses for both the general public and trade and is the Chairman of the Association of Wine Educators and the editor of their newsletter.

Neal Martin: It was Neals passion for Bordeaux wines that helped motivate a career in wine writing. His independent website, wine-journal.com, launched his career in 2003 and it soon developed a cult following of over 100,000 readers. Three years later the most influential wine critic in the world, Robert Parker, requested his penamnship and he is now a reviewer for RobertParker.com.

Jane Masters MW: Jane currently runs her own consultancy business Mastering Wine advising wine companies on strategy. Having graduated with a degree in Biological Chemistry, Jane did a postgraduate diploma in Oenology in Bordeaux. In 1992 she joined the wine buying team at Marks & Spencer and subsequently ran the drinks business. Jane became a Master of Wine in 1997.

Peter McCombie MW: Peter is a New Zealand-born, English-resident Master of Wine. With a background in sales he now operates an independent wine consultancy service, with a strong On Trade focus. He contributes to several magazines and is a popular teacher and speaker about wine.

Alison Morris-Eisermann: Alison is a trained winemaker, viticulturist and wine educator. Over the past 10 years she has been making wine, managing a large commercial vineyard and judging wine throughout Australia and at the IWC. Over the past 5 years she has been studying the MW program and also been working as a part time wine educator in Orange and Sydney.

Joanna Simon: Joanna is the award-winning wine writer of The Sunday Times, for which she writes a weekly column in the Style magazine and contributes to other sections. She is a former editor of both Wine and the original Wine & Spirit magazine and currently writes for a variety of publications. Her books, published all over the world, include Wine An Introduction, Discovering Wine, The Sunday Times Book of Wine and Wine with Food.

Joe Wadsack: Joe won the coveted International Wine and Spirit Communicator of the Year award 2005. He studied wine making in Bordeaux and has since worked as a buyer and consultant for a number of leading supermarket chains. Joe's knowledge and experience culminated in him becoming the yougest ever International Senior Judge at The Royal Melbourne Wine Show.

Lilyane Weston: Lilyane brings a wealth of experience to the IWC's team of Panel Chairmen. A Sopexa lecturer from 1967 to 1990, a regular contributor to Hertfordshire Countryside, Buckinghamshire Countryside and Limited Edition. She has judged at wine competitions in 19 different countries and is the proprietor of a Wholesale Wine Business (Wine World) in Hertfordhsire.

Rupert Wollheim MW: Rupert has been in the wine trade for 30 years ever since he finished studying enology and viticulture in Florence University. He has bought wine from all over the world, including Australia, Chile and California, He currently imports from small quality French producers. He became a Master of Wine in 1990, and has judged wine in Italy and Germany as well as the UK.

Simon Woods: Since swapping a career as an electronics design engineer for a more enjoyable one in wine communication, Simon has been editor of the Which? Wine Guide, a columnist for the FT and author of a number of books, including the award-winning ‘I don’t know much about wine but I know what I like'. Currently a columnist for Wine & Spirit and contributor to several other publications, his unstuffy, entertaining style also means he is much in demand as a speaker for a wide variety of wine events.

John Worontschak: John began his winemaking career at Petaluma winery under the tutelage of Brian Croser in the late 70's whilst reading Geology at Adelaide University. John studied winemaking at the Charles Sturt University where he was awarded the Ron Potter Scholarship. Having worked in every corner of the globe he now runs an international wine consultancy service that assists wine companies in achieving their aims.

Senior Judges