Our Tasters

Stuart’s moment of wine revelation came when he was working as a barman in the Tate Gallery Restaurant in 1981, when a bottle of Château Cheval Blanc 1971 was opened. Despite an MA in cultural history, Stuart realized the only way he could earn a living was to write about wine. After meeting James Suckling at a wine auction in Germany he has been based in the Mosel, Berlin and New York City, traveling extensively through Planet Wine. He now lives in the little town of Eppstein in the Taunus Hills of Germany. Although his name is most closely associated with riesling and German wine, he has undertaken in-depth research in wine regions as contrasting as Bordeaux, Thailand and Arizona. In 2008-9, Stuart was a guest student at the famous wine university of Geisenheim in Germany. In 2020 he became the first winner of the Professor Müller-Thurgau Award.

Aldo Fiordelli was born in Florence, Italy, in 1977 and has worked as a professional journalist and food and wine critic for a number of organizations. He was the Italian correspondent for Decanter, for which he was also a judge at the Decanter World Wine Awards, and also worked for almost 20 years at the Guida de L’Espresso. He writes for the Florentine edition of the Corriere della Sera and for Civiltà del bere. He is a corresponding member of the Italian Academy of Vine and Wine and a knight of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne. In 2022, he received the Casato Prime Donne international award. He has had seven books published: the first one on Macchiaioli, the others about food and wine. In his spare time he enjoys cycling and sailing.

English-born, but resident in Italy for 30 years, Jo’s introduction to wine was as a bottle opener for James Suckling in the Wine Spectator office in Tuscany, rising through the ranks to become Tasting Coordinator and the magazine’s taster of a number of regions in Italy. Jo left the magazine in 2009 to pursue avenues in education, but recently returned to the fold and now works full-time for JamesSuckling.com, preparing tasting notes for publication and providing ingenious Filemaker solutions. When not staring at the computer screen, Jo will probably be found walking his dog on the beach or annoying his neighbors with bad bass-guitar playing.

Jacobo García Andrade, a Spaniard, previously worked for JamesSuckling.com covering Argentina and Chile, but he now reports on Spain and Portugal. He was born in Madrid but moved to Cuba at a young age with his family before ending up in Canada, where he studied philosophy and anthropology at university. He then worked in the film industry in Spain and the U.K. and helped James make a documentary on Cuban cigars before eventually taking his first job with JamesSuckling.com. Jacobo has also worked in Spain for a renowned wine importer, Alma Vinos Unicos, and has participated in wine harvests in Spain as well as in Burgundy for Domaine Marquis d’Angerville. Jacobo says he has a soft spot for the wines of Northern Rhone, Bordeaux and the northeastern Spain axis of Bierzo, Ribeiro, Ribeira Sacra and Rias Baixas.

Claire Nesbitt is an Oxford-educated chemist and McKinsey & Co. alumnus who later decided to pursue her love of wine after studying at Le Cordon Bleu in London. Now based in Hong Kong, she is part of the JamesSuckling.com tasting team as well as helping James manage the wine program at James Suckling Wine Central. She also speaks numerous languages, including conversational Cantonese, French, Italian and Spanish. A competitive trail runner,  Claire can be spotted outdoors and is always up for a hilly challenge.

Ryan Montgomery graduated from the University or Adelaide with a bachelor's degree in viticulture and oenology, finishing his studies at the University of California, Davis. Ryan’s passion for wine started in Victoria, Australia, where he grew up on a small family vineyard. After managing a fine-dining restaurant with and completing his WSET level 3 in 2009, he went on to travel the world of wine, working 17 harvests in Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, France and the United States. Most recently, before joining the James Suckling team, he worked two harvests in Burgundy under Dominque Lafon and two harvests for the Smith Haut Lafitte project in Napa, Cathiard Vineyard. Now based in Napa, Ryan covers the West  Coast of the United States as well as Australia and New Zealand. When not tasting, he can be found hiking up Mount Saint Helena or surfing the California coastline.

A career sommelier and wine lover, Andrii ran the wine operations of various hospitality venues in Europe, and at Oceania Cruises in Miami, before joining the JamesSuckling.com team. Certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers, Andrii is now an integral part of the tasting team, helping to rate thousands of wines each year.