DWWA judge profile: Andres Ituarte

Andres Ituarte is a judge at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).

Andres Ituarte

Originally starting out in the kitchen, he soon realised that wine was his true vocation. After googling ‘sommelier’, and finding out that there was a job where you could get paid to drink wine, he immediately signed up for wine classes through the International Sommelier Guild.

Since then, Ituarte has worked in almost every facet of the wine world. In 2009, he became a certified sommelier and just 1 year later he moved to London to “make it on the big stage”. Ituarte worked as head sommelier at Coq d’Argent in the City of London and then moved to be being group head sommelier for Tamarind Collection. Now he is head sommelier at the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair.

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See more judges for 2026 DWWA.

Born and raised in India, Shivani is the awards manager at Decanter, managing the 300-strong cohort of worldwide judges for the world's largest wine competition, the Decanter World Wine Awards, ensuring a seamless judging process and driving the competitive integrity of the awards. After earning a master’s in wine management from the Burgundy School of Business, she moved to London in 2016 and completed her WSET diploma. While Burgundy holds a special place in her heart, Champagne is her go-to bottle. Alongside her full-time role, she has been dipping her toes into wine writing, relishing the opportunity to bring wine stories to the surface. She serves on the Drinks United Advisory Council board.