Award-winning Argentinian sommelier Paz Levinson is the newly appointed Resident Co-Chair at the 2027 Decanter World Wine Awards.

Paz Levinson is Executive Head Sommelier (Cheffe Sommelière Exécutive) at Maison Pic. She also works as a restaurant consultant and as an educator for organisations including Wines of Argentina.

She began her wine career in her native Argentina, where she was head sommelier at a number of top restaurants, including Restó. She earned her professional sommelier diploma from the Centro Argentino de Vinos y Espirituosas (CAVE) in 2006 and taught there for five years. Alongside this, she completed a BA in Literature. She also became the first Argentinian to pass the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Advanced Sommelier certificate.

Paz was named Best Sommelier of Argentina by the Argentinean Association of Sommeliers in 2010 and again in 2014. In 2015 she won the ASI & APAS Best Sommelier of the Americas, and the following year she placed fourth at the ASI Best Sommelier of the World competition in Mendoza.

After moving to France, she worked at the three-Michelin-star restaurant of Hotel Le Bristol in Paris alongside Marco Pelletier, before joining Maison Pic. She has also written for a number of publications and websites, including GuildSomm.

2027 marks Paz’s year as Resident Co-Chair at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Introduced in 2026, the one-year position is held each year by a different Regional Chair. Paz takes over from Caro Maurer MW, who was the inaugural Resident Co-Chair. She brings her world-class sommelier expertise, deep knowledge of South American and French wines, and longstanding commitment to DWWA to the role. Regine Lee MW and Eduardo Milan will co-lead as Acting Regional Chairs for Argentina and the rest of South America for DWWA 2027.