DWWA judge profile: Daniele Cernilli

Daniele Cernilli is a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).

Daniele Cernilli

Born in Rome, Daniele Cernilli graduated in 1980 with a Masters in Philosophy. After few years of teaching history and literature, he decided to make his love for great food and wine his profession. In 1983 he founded the annual Italian Wine Guide, an aid to wine-lovers.

In April 2011 he became consultant for Associazione Italian Sommelier-Rome Chapter and their publication Bibenda and for the Worldwide Sommelier Association. He also founded DoctorWine, a bilingual web-magazine with 3 weekly newsletters and updates from the Italian and International wine world. In 2014 Daniele wrote the Guida essenziale ai vini d’Italia 2015, a new guide to Italian wines. In 2015 he published the first edition of The Unique Guide to Italian Wine 2016 and “Orvieto DOC – History, terroir, wineries” for the Consorzio Tutela vini di Orvieto.

Lately, he has been a regular contributor to various titles, including: Class, Case & Country, MF, Pagina99, Men’s Health Italian Edition, Spirito di Vino and Spirito di Vino Asia.

In 1998 he was awarded the Targa d’Oro from the Italian Association of Wine Technicians, and Decanter has included him among its “50 Most Influential People in the Wine World”. In 2000 He was named by the International Association of Cooking Professionals: Best Italian Wine Writer and in the same year he won the Oscar del Vino as Best Italian Wine Journalist.

2005 saw Daniele given the Premio Grandi Cru d’Italia: Best Italian Wine Journalist 2005; in 2007 the Associazione Italiana Sommelier awarded him the Sommelier ad Honorem for great competence 2007 and in 2015 was he was elected to the Wine Media Guild of New York Wine Writers’ Hall of Fame.