Meet the 2026 WineGB Awards Judges – Cellar Door
Introducing the judges assessing our new cellar door categories.
Cellar door engagement with local communities and visitors represents the newest tourism category and one of the few expanding areas within the UK hospitality sector. In 2024 alone, the 300+ vineyards and wineries in the UK that offer tourism experiences hosted over 1.5 million visitors through the offer of tours, tastings, and hospitality services.
Even among those without a formal tourism offering, most provide cellar door services to repeat local customers and, in some cases, seasonal or ad-hoc tourism experiences. Whether you have a few hundred visitors to your cellar door each year or thousands the Small Cellar Door and Large Cellar Door categories celebrating the best of UK Wine Tourism
The Cellar Door categories will benchmark excellence in visitor experience at member vineyards and wineries and our expert judges will be looking for innovation and excellence in Service, Venue, Experiential Promotion, Community Engagement and Accessibility & Sustainability.
Meet the 2026 WineGB Cellar Door category judges:
Alice Griffiths
An English and Welsh wine ambassador and writer with a background in agriculture and a WSET Diploma, Alice has built a reputation as one of the UK’s most passionate advocates for homegrown viticulture and wine tourism, writing columns for Vineyard Magazine and My Weekly. In 2025, Alice attempted a Guinness World Record visiting 80 UK vineyards in seven days.
Antonia Wilson
Antonia is global digital editor of Business Traveller and co-founder and co-editor of Arrival Magazine. She has over 15 years’ experience as a travel, culture, lifestyle and F&B writer and editor working for publications including Vogue, The Observer and National Geographic Traveller.
Daniel James Clarke
Daniel James Clarke is the Joint Chair of the British Guild of Travel Writers. A travel writer, guidebook author, blogger and photographer, Daniel specialises in writing about Portugal and sustainable travel, especially rail and slow overland journeys and cultural preservation. His bylines include Lonely Planet, The Guardian, The Times, The I, The Telegraph, and National Geographic Traveller UK.
Kirsty Rushby
Kirsty recently joined WineGB as Head of Communications and Marketing. An experienced food and drink communications specialist, Kirsty previously spent 11 years at the Co-Op, where she held senior roles within the marketing, PR and communication teams and was responsible for leading the PR and profile strategy for the wine category.
Emma Hodges
Emma has over two decades’ experience in accessibility and inclusion and works as a consultant within the wine and drinks industry, supporting businesses to create more inclusive, accessible and equitable environments. Through training, advisory work and awareness-building, she helps organisations better understand diverse needs and embed inclusive practices into their culture, communication, employee and customer experience.
Shehnaz Hansraj
The UK’s head of research & consumer insights at Viking, Shehnaz is the presenter of the Wine & Travel TV show The A-Z of Wine with Shehnaz on Viking TV. A qualified wine communicator with a decade of wine travel experience, she has visited over 850 vineyards across five continents.
Rosie Robins
Rosie Robins is Head of External Communications, Partnerships & Product at The Camping and Caravanning Club, which celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2026. Rosie has extensive experience in the tourism industry, having previously worked for TUI and British Airways.
Rebecca Pitcairn
Rebecca Pitcairn is an award-winning journalist and host of The English Wine Diaries podcast. A wine columnist for the Great British Life magazine portfolio, she also writes wine and travel articles for publications, such as Sainsbury’s magazine, Delicious and British Travel Journal.
Entries to the WineGB Awards 2026 close on 8th May 2026. Good luck!