DWWA judge profile: Kelli White

Kelli White is a judge at the 2018 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA)

Kelli White

Kelli White is the senior staff writer for GuildSomm. Prior to that, her work as a sommelier, first at New York City’s Veritas and then at PRESS in St. Helena, was covered by many of the wine industry’s top publications, including Food & Wine, Vinous, The Wine Advocate, The Wine Spectator, the San Francisco Chronicle, World of Fine Wine, and Forbes.

In 2013 she was named as one of Food & Wine’s top ten sommeliers in the country.

Her writing has appeared in World of Fine Wine, Robb Report, Sommelier Journal, Le Pan, and Vinous. At Vinous, Kelli was a key member of the maps team, and worked with famed Italian cartographer Alessando Masnaghetti to map many of the appellations of Napa Valley.

Her book, Napa Valley, Then & Now, was released in November 2015 and has received critical acclaim, winning both the IACP award for Best New Wine, Beer, or Spirits Book as well as a Graphis design award.

In 2011, she co-founded a small wine brand called Houndstooth and she also made a brief appearance in the 2015 documentary Somm II: Into the Bottle.

In October of 2016, Kelli led a wine tasting seminar at Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women’s Summit in Laguna Niguel, CA.

Most recently, she was nominated for Sommelier/Wine Director of the Year (2017) by Wine Enthusiast magazine.

Follow Kelly on Twitter: @kelliwhitewine