Adrian Garforth MW, Head Judge

Adrian has a long standing commitment to supporting sustainable practises within wineries beginning with his time at Spier in Stellenbosch, South Africa in the late '90's and latterly as Chief Executive Officer at Yealands Wine Group in Marlborough, New Zealand. Through their pioneering work, Yealands were the first winery outside of the founding members, Torres and Jackson Family Wines, to be invited to join the IWCA (international Wineries for Climate Action) whose growing membership has now expanded to over 20 wineries.

Most recently he championed a number of Sustainability and Diversity initiatives within the Institute of Masters of Wine in his role as Executive Director during the Covid-19 crisis and has remained closely involved with the Golden Vines® team since its inception.