People

Judging Oversight

Liam Steevenson MW

Bristol based Liam Steevenson is the founder and Chief Exec of Global Wine Solutions, the world leader in superyacht wine supply. The youngest person in the world to achieve the Master of Wine qualification, Liam also created and runs Vineyard Productions, through which he produces a portfolio of celebrated award-winning artisanal wines available worldwide. Liam judges and consults around the world, and has held senior wine roles at Bibendum and Waitrose.

Lead Judge

Tommy Grimshaw

Tommy is Head Winemaker at English sparkling wine producer Langham Wine Estate in Dorset. In 2020 they were named World Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year by IWSC, and T is the youngest person to head-up their winery - or any in the UK. Hugely experienced with ten vintages under his belt, he also co-created the influential Emerging Vines social media and events startup, and last year was included in the Harpers wine magazine’s ’30 Under 30’ list.

Wine Judge

Louisa Payne

Entrepreneur Louisa is the founder of the successful Brixton Wine Club. Launched during lockdown and starting as a wine tasting group with friends BWC is a wine subscription business dealing in alternative formats, specifically cans. Her focus was on creating a business accessible for a younger audience whilst supporting her sustainability priorities. Louisa also runs two vintage vans serving wine from tap, plus a bar, and in 2023 was shortlisted by IWSC for Emerging Talent in Wine.

Wine Judge

Alex Taylor

Engineer, winemaker and award winning packaging and subscription entrepreneur, Alex is co-founder of The Tring Winery and The Online Wine Tasting Club. Responding to cancelled lockdown tastings by devising a packaging solution for letterbox distribution and co-creating a monthly online tasting club saw him pick up gongs for Wine Innovator of the Year, Innovation in Manufacturing, Engineering Startup, and Best Virtual Wine Experience.

Wine Judge

Robin Frean

Brighton’s Freanovino is an independent wine consultant, and merchant to both the on-trade and off-trade as part of Sussex-based Burgundy Wines. Robin is a Graduate of the UK's leading wine university Plumpton College, spent five glorious years running wine-centric neighbourhood bar and restaurant Hood Streatham in London, and also has several years experience as a vineyard General Manager, taking care of Ops at a boutique West Sussex producer here in the UK.

Wine Judge

Shiada Drysdale

Shiada leads and manages the global beverage proposition for Virgin Atlantic airline, curating and selecting beverage listings across all cabins. Managing supplier relationships and brand partnerships, and key to driving VA’s sustainability ambitions for the beverage category, Shiada holds various beverage qualifications, has participated in numerous judging panels, and is a self-proclaimed “huge fan of the can format”.

Wine Judge

Louloua Smith

Louloua fulfils the crucial and balancing role of ‘Knowledgable Consumer’ on the ICWA panel, so comes to the table unencumbered by wine trade whistles and bells. But with tasting experience in 25 countries, WSET level 2 in her back pocket, a dayjob title like Data and Analytics Senior Manager at a global bank, and mastery over her two very young children, L is seriously skilled and extremely well equipped for organoleptic testing - or canned wine judging, if you prefer.

ICWA Founder

Alexander Taylor

Another Bristol native, founder Alex is an award-winning brand and marketing consulant, with a background in legal and audit, now specialising in the UK wine trade. With a practice focused on social media and community building, Alex is WSET accredited, with ten years experience judging international wine competitions. He created and has run The ICWA’s acclaimed sister competiiton The IEWA (Independent English Wine Awards) for the past seven years.

Live Scoring

Sanja Taylor

Sanja is an experienced wine competition scorer, having overseen and managed results coming in over the last 4 years for our sister wine competition The IEWA. Hailing from Bosnia Herzegovina and originally a lawyer, ST’s day job sees her heading up the people function for 1625IP, a Bristol-based youth homeless support charity. She’s all about the detail, culture and values - not just doing things correctly, but scrupulously fairly.

Event Ops

Ros Neale

All successful endeavours - but particularly events - have those people without whom the whole thing wouldn’t have a chance of triumphing. For us, this is that person. Having been at the sharp end of Galmorgan Cricket’s hosting of an Ashes Test Match, Cardiff’s Ros has worked on bigger events, but has been a vital part of our team since 2016. Never has the phrase “Why don’t we do it like this?” been more artfully and expertly deployed.