Hi everyone,

I am delighted to be joining Johan Berglund and the rest of the team at The Wine Independent as principal Bordeaux reviewer and senior editor.

I have long admired Johan's work, and since its launch in 2022 I have watched The Wine Independent flourish. With Johan and Lisa Perrotti-Brown at the helm it is clear that the publication has developed a strong reputation for the quality of its reporting, with a special focus on Bordeaux and California.

Coming on board, with 25 years of experience at Winedoctor, and more visits to Bordeaux under my belt than I care to remember (I've had at least 18 turns on the primeurs merry-go-round and haven't been flung off yet), my aim is to now push The Wine Independent forward in terms of its Bordeaux coverage. Bordeaux is coded for in my DNA (I have the very rare Bordeaux-Loire gene). Not just the famous first growths and the gilded superstar châteaux, but also all the smaller properties that make the region such great value (if you know where to look), and I aim to bring all their stories onto the pages of The Wine Independent to produce an unparalleled source of Bordeaux information. And not just notes and scores (although there will be plenty of them), but also the people, the châteaux and their histories, building on more than two decades of work at Winedoctor.

In parallel with this, The Wine Independent will be expanding, with new reviewers in the pipeline, for California, the Rhône Valley and other regions.

Subscribers will get full access also to The Winedoctor site starting next week.

And who knows, I might even introduce subscribers to the delights of the Loire Valley (yeah, but not before we have published that Beychevelle vertical back to 1905 I have been working on, obviously). I hope subscribers are ready for the ride!

Cheers, Chris