Neal Martin | |
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| Born | 12 February 1971 (1971-02-12) (age 54) Leigh-on-Sea,Essex, England, U.K. |
| Education | Warwick University |
| Occupation(s) | Wine-critic journalist and book writer |
| Website | vinous |
Neal Martin (born 12 February 1971) is an English wine-critic journalist and book writer, based in the United Kingdom.
He reviews the wines ofBordeaux,Burgundy,South Africa, andNew Zealand for the website Vinous.
In 2012, Martin wrote the award-winning book,Pomerol,[1] widely acknowledged to be the definitive book on one of Bordeaux's least-knownappellations.[2] In 2013, it won the inauguralAndré Simon John Avery Award and the Chairman's Award at theLouis Roederer Wine Writers Awards 2013.[3][4]
Born the eldest of four sons on 12 February 1971 in coastalLeigh-on-Sea inEssex, England, Martin attendedWestcliff High School for Boys and continued on toWarwick University in 1989 where he obtained a degree inmanagement science.
After graduation, Martin worked forLloyd's of London 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 asLatour andPetrus without knowing much about them, he enrolled in aWine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) wine certification course. Four years later, he passed theWSET 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 byRobert Parker to joinThe Wine Advocate magazine 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 everyPomerolcru ever made. Martin decided toself publish the book because, he said, "I'm stubborn and didn't want to compromise – I felt there were parts an editor would take out."[5]
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.[citation needed]
On 20 November 2017, it was announced that Martin would be leavingThe Wine Advocate to join Vinous as senior editor.[6]
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