Judges 2026

Journalist by trade, Horia has been mingling with wines ever since he was a child, when he was given the hard task of being his family’s “paharnic”, which means he had the final say on the wine that was about to be bought for the parties that his parents were throwing. The true passion erupted around 2006, when he tasted a wine bearing the signature of Mariano Garcia, the enologist who wrote history for Vega Sicilia. He started searching, reading, discovering. Horia created his first blog - “Vin din Presa” (romanian play on words on his past in journalism and the fact that you need to press grapes in order to make wine) - and in 2010 he was locked and loaded to join the Vinul.Ro team, to the great envy of his friends, who were mad at him for “getting money for drinking” when they had to buy their drinks. Until 2017, when he left Vinul.Ro, Horia became a globetrotter on the path of wine, he has been a judge in many international contests, including Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, Balkans International Wine Competition, Vinarium - IWCB and Thessaloniki WSIC and he became even more in love with wine and the people around it. Right now Horia is a part of a lot of different projects, but prioritizing his personal one - Wine People - a blog that is only held back from being a beautiful flower by his huge laziness. In 2019 he became also a book author…”Oamenii Vinului”(People Of Wine) Besides that, he is an ambassador for Cognac Deau, for Arran malt, for the blends from Lost Distilleries and many others…and most importantly, World Champion in blind tasting with Team Romania in 2023!