Jury members
Serdar Balkaya
United Kingdom
On-trade, top sommelier, wine judge
Operations manager, Trivet restaurant
Serdar Balkaya was the Club Head Sommelier of Royal Automobile Club and Heston Blumenthal’s London restaurant Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental. Prior to his role at the renowned restaurant, he worked as head sommelier for Hakkasan Group’s HKK, which he joined in 2004, and was also part of opening teams for the group’s restaurants both abroad and in the UK. Balkaya studied tourism and hotel management in London, went on to pass the WSET exams and the Court of Master Sommeliers’ advanced course. He is the operations manager in Trivet ltd, a 2 Michelin-star restaurant in London. He is a judge at Decanter Wine World Awards. 
.webp)
