/ 40 years of wine tasting: renowned critic James Suckling on how a bottle of 1966 Château Lafite Rothschild from his dad led to travelling the world sampling 50 tipples a day
- When his wife-to-be served a bottle of Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 2017 on their first dinner date together, he ‘knew she was the right one’ for him
- He loves his Rolex GMT-Master II: Batman because it feels like a sports watch, and looks good for both daily use and dress-up events
Few things encapsulate time’s role as creator better than wine. And few people understand that better than James Suckling, who embarked on his career as a wine critic more than 40 years ago and is today one of the busiest and most influential critics in the world.
That makes a celebratory glass to mark life’s most important moments all the more apt. Suckling discovered his taste for wine when his father shared with him a bottle of 1966 Château Lafite Rothschild.
“It was one of my most memorable times when I was a teenager and it taught me how amazing wine was. I understood why my father loved it not only for the taste but also for the connoisseurship, conversation and sharing it created.”
A few weeks after Suckling’s own son was born, he marked the occasion with a bottle of 1966 Quinta do Noval, even sharing a drop with the boy, and “he’s loved wine ever since!” Years later, his wife-to-be served a bottle of Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 2017 on their first dinner date together. “I knew she was the right one for me,” he quips.
Suckling’s time today is spent tasting wines – often up to 50 in a day – and travelling the globe to meet winery owners and winemakers. His tasting events have returned, having been minimised during the pandemic, and he is hell bent on sharing his appreciation of great wine with the world, not only through physical events, but also though his role as an instructor on Masterclass teaching wine appreciation. Indeed, his “retirement”, he explains (he is almost 64), is probably going to look very similar to his working life.
“Someone recently asked me what I will do when I retire and I said: I will travel the world, taste wine and write about it,” he adds. “I do that most days. It’s so much fun and so rewarding. And I have a good group of young people who share my passion and devotion to wine and journalism.”
The only thing Suckling says he would change if he could do things over, is to play music. “I would learn to play a musical instrument semi-professionally,” he says.