Judges announced for Judgement of London tasting

The judges have been revealed for the London Wine Fair’s Judgement of London event, which will be taking place on Monday next week.

The event pays homage to the late Steven Spurrier’s landmark Judgement of Paris, but with an updated format.

Rather than pitching Bordeaux and Burgundies against Californian counterparts, like the original event, the new event will see a ‘broader inclusion’ of European wines and Rest of the World equivalents.

It aims to provide ‘a more realistic benchmarking’ of the fine wine world, a quarter of a century after the sector was shaken to its core by the Spurrier-led event in Paris.

Judges will taste eight pairs of white wines, followed by eight pairs of red wines.

The judges have all been selected from the UK wine industry and are considered leaders in their fields with Patrick sitting alongside other Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers and other leading wine experts.

It  has been curated by Ronan Sayburn MS, CEO of The Court of Master Sommeliers, alongside Sarah Abbott MW, MD of Swirl Wine Group, who will run the tasting and present the results on Centre Stage with Hannah Tovey, the head of London Wine Fair on Tuesday, 21 May at 4.45pm.

Tovey said: “We are delighted with the response we have had from those invited to join our judging panel.

“The fact that we have such a high calibre of judges and that this tasting has become something of a ‘hot ticket’ is testament to the longevity of the original 1976 Judgement and appetite for this updated version almost half a century on.”

The judges are:

Patrick Schmitt MW, editor-in-chief, the drinks business
Elliot Awin, Partner at ABS Wine Agencies
Isa Bal MS, Consultant Sommelier, Trivet Restaurant
Richard Bampfield MW, Wine Consultant
Stephen Brook, Contributing Editor of Decanter and Author
Alistair Cooper MW, Writer, Consultant and Judge
Dawn Davies MW, Buying Director, Speciality Drinks
Gearoid Devaney MS, Director of Flint Wines and Cabotte
Sarah Jane Evans MW, Wine Writer
Tina Gellie, Content Manager for the Decanter brand
Aleesha Hansel, Wine Writer
Daniel Illsley, Founder of Theatre of Wine
Anne Krebiehl MW, Wine Writer
Kathrine Larsen-Robert MS, Head of Fine Wine, Enotria
Adam Lechmere, Publishing Director, Académie du Vin Library
Regine Lee MW, Indigo Wine, Managing Director
Margaret Rand, Wine Writer and general editor of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book
Laura Rhys MS, Head of Wine – Communications, Education and Style, Gusbourne
Jancis Robinson MW OBE, Wine Writer of The FT and JancisRobinson.com
Matt Wilkin MS, Director, H2Vin
Clem Yates MW, Founder of English Pink rosé