Charles Metcalfe
Chairman of the judges

Charles’ past careers as a tour guide, security guard, freelance cook, investment analyst and opera singer were the perfect preparation for co-founding Britain’s second consumer wine magazine (Wine International) and the International Wine Challenge. He served a 12-year term as drinks expert on Richard & Judy’s ‘This Morning’ and has presented wine and, occasionally, food on many TV shows. He is also a wine consultant to the Corporation of London. His book, ‘The Wine & Food Lover’s Guide to Portugal’, won the Louis Roederer International Wine Writer’s Book Award in 2008.

He is proud to serve as Honorary President of the Association of Wine Educators. Charles often tastes (and spit out, of course) 100 or more wines per day, all over the world. He is based near Gatwick, with a wife, children, two cats and a varying number of chickens, and still sings in the shower, the local village hall and, occasionally, at wine tastings.

Joanna Simon

Joanna Simon is an award-winning wine writer, presenter and food writer. She is co-founder of The Wine Gang (thewinegang.com), editor of Waitrose & Partners Drinks magazine, a judge for Decanter World Wine Awards and other competitions (wine, chocolate, photography) and was wine critic of The Sunday Times for 22 years; she was also one of its cookery writers for five years. She presented the BBC Radio 4 series The Bottle Uncorked, has been editor of both Wine and Wine & Spirit magazines and her best-selling books, published all over the world, include Wine With Food, Discovering Wine, Wine An Introduction, The Sunday Times Book of Wine and Harrods Book of Fine Wine. She tweets @joannasimon, instagrams @joannasimon_wine and publishes wine recommendations, fine wine blogs, restaurant reviews and recipes at www.joannasimon.com.

John Stimpfig

Since 2014, John Stimpfig has been the Content Director at Decanter. Prior to that he was a freelance journalist and contributing editor to Decanter and The Financial Times How To Spend It Magazine. He began writing about wine in 1994 and has also written for the The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, Food & Wine, Wine & Spirit International, Investors Chronicle and numerous other titles. During the course of his career he has won several wine writing accolades including three Louis Roederer Feature Writer of the Year Awards. He lives in West Oxfordshire with his wife and three children.

Anne Krebiehl MW

German-born but London-based, Anne Krebiehl MW is a freelance wine writer and lecturer. She is the contributing editor for Austria, Alsace and England for the US Wine Enthusiast and also writes for trade and consumer wine publications such as The World of Fine Wine, Decanter, The Buyer, Falstaff, Vinum, etc.. She lectures, consults and judges at international wine competitions and is a panel chair at the International Wine Challenge. She completed her WSET Diploma in 2010 and was admitted to the Institute of Masters of Wine in September 2014. Anne has helped to harvest and make wine in New Zealand, Germany and Italy.

Emma Symington MW

Emma won the Emerging Wine Writer category in the 2014 Louis Roederer Awards for her articles published on the Wine Monkeys blog. After winning the Vintners’ Cup and Vintners’ Scholarship for the top WSET Diploma graduate in 2011 she embarked on the Master of Wine course, becoming an MW in 2015. A  WSET-certified educator, her day job is running Wine Australia’s events and education programme in the UK and she also judges at several international wine competitions. She is excited to judge the 2019 Roederer Awards and is looking forward to reading this year’s entries.

Victoria Daskal

Victoria Daskal is managing editor at The World of Fine Wine magazine and a stage two student at the Institute of Masters of Wine.

Born in Moldova, she grew up in Boston, MA and upon completing the OIV MSc in International Wine Management Victoria came to London, UK to intern and write for Jancis Robinson MW. She has worked in sales for Laithwaites Wine and Slurp, managed AWC Wine Academy and has been freelance writing for over a decade. After completing the WSET Diploma with Merit, she became a WSET Certified Course Tutor and has enjoyed educating individuals, trade, and corporate groups. She is a judge at International Wine and Spirits Competition.

Victoria Hall
Artistry

Victoria has over twenty years picture editing experience in books & magazines including being Picture Editor of Decanter Magazine for ten years.

Following her MA in Fine art at Chelsea College of Art & Design she has also continued a career as a photographic artist. She has exhibited extensively with work held in numerous collections.

She is now based in Suffolk, where she continues as a freelance picture researcher & running her design business ‘Cluck Cluck’.  Victoria has been in charge of the Artistry category for the LRIWWA since 2011.