DWWA Regional Chair for the USA & Central America: James Tidwell MS
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James Tidwell MS is the Regional Chair for the USA and Central America at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) 2026.
James Tidwell MS
James Tidwell is a writer, speaker, and educator. Tidwell founded and produces the TEXSOM Conference, a professional education conference for wine.
He consulted on The World Atlas of Wine 8th edition as well as the Oxford Companion to Wine 5th edition, contributes to the annual Hugh Johnson Pocket Wine Book, and is an editorial committee member for the Classic Wine Library.
He is a Grand Jury judge for the Wines of Portugal Challenge 2022 & 2023 and a judge for The World of Fine Wine magazine’s World’s Best Wine List Awards.
His articles have been published in World of Fine Wine, Lonely Planet, and other outlets. For three years he published the annual digest TEXSOM Presents Sommelier.
He was selected Rising Star Sommelier 2007 by StarChefs, nominated as WSET’s Outstanding Alumni 2017, nominated for the Person of the Year in Wine Enthusiast magazine’s Wine Star Awards 2019, and was named one of Wine Business Monthly’s Wine Business Leaders 2021.
He passed the Master Sommelier Diploma examination in 2009. Tidwell joined the DWWA Regional Chairs team in 2022.
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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.