James Suckling: “There are more and more perfect wines coming out.”

Interview and photo via La Nacion, Argentina’s leading newspaper. Click here for the original version in Spanish. La Nacion is one of two of Argentina’s most widely read and distributed newspapers. Around 250,000 papers are printed and distributed nationwide on weekend days in Argentina, with an online readers estimation of five million readers. The interview took place during James´visit to Argentina, where he recently tasted over 600 wines. 

James Suckling takes a break in his work routine for this interview. It is the third day out of four of his visit to Buenos Aires, where he will taste over 700 wines for his upcoming report on Argentina. He has already tasted over 500 wines, and the room, filled with wines all numbered and covered in paper bags to hide their identity, proves this is the way he tastes. He asks me in accurate Spanish if I would like a glass of wine (it is 3 pm); I say yes. He asks two glasses be served of Nosotros malbec, by Susana Balbo. During the interview I drink, he does not. 

Suckling, one of the most relevant wine reviewers in the world – ex Senior Editor at Wine Spectator and Head of the Wine Department for the luxury Asian magazine Tatler – will laugh when he finds out the recent comments from a French winemaker who recently said that wine scores do not have a future. His life is scoring wines. He has been traveling the wine world for the past 30 years with his leather suitcase specially designed to carry around his Lalique crystal wine glasses. “I always taste with the same glasses,” he says. “Nine-thousand wines from all over the planet are tasted each year through these glasses.”

He lives in Hong Kong, where his footprint has been for years in one of the leading areas for wine consumption in the industry, but this year he is opening an office in Buenos Aires to expand his activities in Argentina. Before heading on to Chile, where with the logistics from Winery store and its sommelier Rodrigo Calderón, he will accomplish another tasting round, Suckling will say that there will be more 100-point wines coming out, which, he says, makes it harder to sail in the diversity, and at the same time he will reassure that the concept ruling the world palate today is drinkability.

-How have Argentine wines changed in the years you have been tasting them?

-I believe there is a general trend in Argentine wines towards drinkability, like it happens in all the world – it is sort of back to classism of the ‘80s, when I began writing about wines. I also see here a trend towards wines that are more transparent and that convey the unique terroirs of Argentina. In the past there was much emphasis on the market demands and one style in particular, driven by the US, which demanded alcoholic and heavy wines. Now I am tasting more balanced wines, fresh, which allow for taste identification from different regions such as Gualtallary, Agrelo or Uco.

-Could we say that the Argentinean wines have reached an important level of maturity?

-Yes, absolutely right. And I also see a generation of winemakers, people in their thirties who say, “ We want to make wines that really show the characteristics of our terroir. And we want them to speak for their terroir.” I believe that Argentina is getting away from the tendency of producing wines that are market driven, towards wines that are true to their terroir. 

-Two years ago, you gave 100 points to an Argentine wine (Cobos Malbec 2011). Do you believe we can expect more wines from Argentina with such a score?

-Of course; I am sure there will be more wines in the 100 points line. There will be more wines with 100 points throughout the year as well, because this is a place where you really see the unique character of each terroir as people stay away from the concept of late picking or too much wood, or even over-extraction. So I really hope to see more perfect wines from Argentina in general. A funny story about that wine is that it scored 100 points and it barely made it to bottling.

-Really? How did that happen?

-When they made the wine there was a big argument with the winemaker, Paul Hobbs. Paul said, “ This is not in accordance with the style of Argentina.” And then he said, “It must be the vintage; let’s just bottle it.” He was insecure. But when I tasted it, it was one of those 100-point wines that I don’t even have to taste to realize. It was right there on the nose already and I said, “This is insane.” It is an electrifying sensation, the energy of a unique wine with great acidity, fresh mature fruit, great tannin structure. I know many winemakers around the globe who when they tasted it, they said it was an amazing wine. But the fun part of the story is that the wine barely made it to the bottle!

-How often do you score a wine 100 points?

-In Bordeaux, for example, there is an excellent harvest this year, and I gave 100 points to seven wines. It is crazy; they are amazing wines. Nowadays the quality in winemaking and enology is so high that I really believe there are more and more perfect wines coming.

– Speaking about scores, a few days ago, French winemaker Michel Rolland said in an interview to LA NACION magazine that scores in wines have no future…

-Well, obviously I make a living out of scoring. I think it is a funny comment, because Michel’s life is about scoring wines in a certain way, as winemakers, especially consulting winemakers like him, are judged by the scores given to their wines. I can tell you I travel the world and do not see scores losing importance. In fact, the opposite is happening. They are getting more important as new markets are starting to drink wine, such as China, Thailand or Korea. All these growing markets need scores because it makes it easier for them. They become a basic tool for people who want to make an informed decision on the purchase they make. They provide a minimum standard to know what a great wine is all about. Also, another problem is that today there are a lot of excellent wines out there – how can a consumer taste enough wines from the world to know which are good and which are not? All we do as wine critics is give those people the tools to make better and more informed decisions when purchasing wine. And after all, the consumer can always say, “I don’t like James’ style, I prefer something more powerful,” and stick to Robert Parker’s style. There are many voices in the wine world today, all of which are useful for consumers. 

-Leaving aside scores, what are young consumers looking for in wine?

-I believe they are looking for a unique experience when drinking wine. And they are open minded about tasting new things, whether that may be a malbec from Argentina, or a nero d’avola from Italy or a trousseau from California. The same tendency is happening with artisan beer and with cocktails; both are growing towards the same direction. This is about people looking for new experiences when tasting. On the other hand, younger generations are more conscious about their drinking and eating habits, they are interested in organic products. Even in Asia, where I live, this has become a life tendency more than a consuming habit.

– How is this new approach to wine changing the industry?

-I believe that wine producers are very market aware, and that is the reason why we see a change in Argentine wines. An interesting observation is that this new style of wines, which is more drinkable, is not really the style of some consumers who are used to heavy, big and alcoholic malbecs. When they taste these new wines they think, is this a malbec? But then they like it, and that is how you can discover a new world of consumers who were not looking for an experience before but are now looking for the new style of malbec or the new style of Argentine wines.

There are still a lot of people asking me, “Do you think there is a future in malbec?” And that is because Argentina has not yet realized the true value of malbec. They are just now realizing when they see that malbec communicates the unique places where the vine grows, and that is the most interesting part of all this. There is no place on earth – maybe a hidden place in the middle of nowhere in Australia – with the same characteristics of great Argentine wines. And that is why I do NOT believe the potential for Argentine wines has yet reached its limits.