Neal Martin is a wine critic and author based in the UK. He reviews the wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy, South Africa, and New Zealand for ''Vinous''. In 2012, Martin authored the award-winning book, ''Pomerol'', widely acknowledged to be the definitive book on one of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

's least known

appellations An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

. In 2013, it won the inaugural André Simon John Avery Award and the Chairman's Award at the

Louis Roederer Louis Roederer is a producer of champagne based in Reims, France. Founded in 1776, the business was inherited and renamed by Louis Roederer in 1833. It remains as one of the few independent and family-run ''maisons de champagne'' (champagne house ...

Wine Writers Awards 2013.

Early life

Born the eldest of four sons on 12 February 1971, in coastal

Leigh-on-Sea Leigh-on-Sea (), commonly referred to simply as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. In 2011, it had a population of 22,509. Geography Leigh-on-Sea is on the northern ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England, Martin attended

Westcliff High School for Boys Westcliff High School for Boys (WHSB) is an 11–18 selective academy grammar school for boys in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England. In September 2001 the school was awarded ‘Beacon’ status for its breadth of achievements and quality of work. T ...

and continued on to

Warwick University , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

in 1989 where he obtained a degree in

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

Career

After graduation, Martin worked for

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

for two years before relocating to Tokyo in 1994 to work as an English teacher. In 1996, he accepted a position within a Japanese export company working with wine. When Martin found himself procuring such high-ticket wines as Latour and Petrus without knowing much about them, he enrolled in a WSET wine certification course. Four years later, he passed th
WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines and Spirits
had traveled regularly to European wine regions and visited nearly all the major chateaux in Bordeaux several times; all the time recording tasting notes. In June 2003, he began writing an independent website, wine-journal.com, that quickly acquired over 100,000 readers. In 2006, he was approached by Robert Parker to join The Wine Advocate as a reviewer. In 2012, after three years of research, he published his first book, ''Pomerol''. Comprising three main parts and totaling nearly 600 pages, one part deals with the history of the commune, another contains winery profiles organized alphabetically, and the final part considers every

Pomerol Pomerol (; oc, Pomairòus) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine near Bordeaux in southwestern France. Wine With only . Pomerol is the smallest wine producing area in the Bordeaux region. It is more a community where t ...

cru ever made. Martin decided to publish the book himself because, he said, "I’m stubborn and didn’t want to compromise – I felt there were parts an editor would take out." Martin serves as an international wine judge in countries including the UK, South Africa, Japan, Bordeaux, Australia and at the International Wine Challenge as a Panel Chair. On 20 November 2017, it was announced that Martin would be leaving The Wine Advocate to join Vinous as Senior Editor.

Awards

* André Simon John Avery Award for ''Pomerol'' * Chairman's Award at the Louis Roederer Wine Writers Awards 2013

Works

*''Pomerol'' (2012), Wine Journal Publishing,

References

External links