A Life In Wine

Critic and now restaurant owner James Suckling explains to Jon Wall why he gave up one of the most enviable jobs in the world to move to Hong Kong and set up on his own business.

- James Suckling

Seated comfortably in his Soho wine bar and restaurant, which has been pretty much the centre of his world since the early months of 2020, James Suckling looks like an extremely happy man. One of the world’s most respected and influential wine critics, he has the privilege of doing a job that he absolutely loves and seems delighted to share his great fortune with everyone around him.

In almost 40 years in the industry, he thinks he must have tasted and rated a quarter of a million vintages; his James Suckling.com website gets around 600,000 unique visitors each year; he holds decorations from both the French and Italian governments, as well as honorary citizenship from the Italian winemaking town of Montalcino in Tuscany; and he’s the only wine expert offering classes on Masterclass.com.

Appearances to the contrary, though, Suckling’s professional journey has been neither straightforward nor smooth. He readily admits that his Staunton Street establishment in Hong Kong, James Suckling Wine Central, which he and his Korean wife and business partner Marie opened in October 2018, almost went under before it was rescued, bizarrely, by the Covid-19 pandemic. And why he decided to throw in what must have been one of the most envied positions in the world of wine, as senior editor and European bureau chief of the oenophiles’ bible, Wine Spectator, to move to a part of the world he hardly knew, is another story entirely. The way he tells it – accompanied by self-deprecating smiles and laughs – you’d think it had all been plain sailing.