James Suckling, left, and his wife Marie Kim-Suckling look around the Bonte Museum in Seogwipo, Jeju, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Park Jin-hai
JEJU — James Suckling, American wine critic with a rock star-like following, visited Korea for the ninth Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF) this week. The critic, fondly given the Korean name Jae-suck by his fans here, came to the island off the southern coast of the country to meet Korean wine aficionados and present six specially selected wines to pair with dishes using Jeju's exceptional local ingredients.
Coming to Korea with his Korean wife Marie Kim-Suckling, vice president of JamesSuckling.com and owner of James Suckling Wine Central in Hong Kong, the 65-year-old critic amusingly says he has been eating Korean food almost every day since his marriage to Kim in 2013.
“For me, there's nothing better than kimchi fried rice with a fried egg on top. And it goes well with wine too. Not like heavier, but with like Beaujolais or Pinot noir and (is) just fresh and so good,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times at Bonte Museum in Seogwipo, Jeju, Tuesday.
Suckling says food-wine pairings are not about science, but rather, thay are like deciding who to invite to a dinner party.
“It's like I have a great group coming together, and I'm looking for people who would fit them well. (In pairing) I really believe in texture, freshness. You could serve red wines with fish. The old Western rule about wine and food pairing isn't necessarily there. We have to actually think about textures and freshness,” he said.
“And then there's little hacks as well. Like you serve red wines, cooler — at 17 or 18 degree centigrade — and then things like Pinot noir or a Syrah start acting like white wines. So that's what I saw today with Korean food in particular.”
James Suckling dines at Myeonghodotgalbi, a grilled pork belly restaurant, in Seogwipo, Jeju, Wednesday. Courtesy of JFWF
Wine pairing with Korean food
With kimchi, wines that are too alcoholic or too jammy can fight against one another.
“Kimchi is spicy and has decadent flavors of cabbage and fermentation. And if you have a rich wine with alcohol and lots of flavor, then they're just like putting two boxers in the ring fighting. So instead if you have fresh wine, it can actually work well with kimchi, compliment that, make it more sophisticated in balance,” he said, adding that kimchi pancakes, or "jeon," are one of the signature dishes at James Suckling Wine Central, his restaurant in Hong Kong.
He has tasted over 250,000 wines over the 42 years since he started working as a wine critic for Wine Spectator magazinein 1981 and has made his 100-point rating for wines — named JS — so influential that it can have a significant impact on a wine's price and reputation. He evaluates wine based on four main criteria: taste (15 points), aroma (25 points), structure (25 points) and overall quality (35 points).
Red-banded lobster tartare endive by chef Kim Tae-min of De tempore is served during the Garden Dinner, a signature event of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival, May 11. Courtesy of JFWF
During the Jeju festival's exclusive wine dinner hosted by Suckling, titled James Suckling Wine Diner, Friday, he provides a six-course menu paired with wines of his recommendation.
"Jatjuk" (pine nut porridge) with abalone and caviar by chef Cho Hee-sook of Korean Food Space, is paired with Salomon Undhof Ried Kogl Riesling 2022, which scored 93 JS points; croaker with sargassum by chef Albert Leung of James Suckling Wine Central in Hong Kong with Favia Carbone Chardonnay 2020 (JS 97); pomegranate-shaped dumpling filled with Jeju vegetables by Cho with Pio Cesare Barbera d'Alba 2021 (JS 91); and char siew pork by Leung with Dominio de Pingus PSI 2020 (JS 93).
Suckling says Korea is an attractive market and one of the hotspots for growth potential with the rise of the emerging MZ generation, or Millennials and Gen Zers collectively, as new wine consumers.
“The interesting thing about Korea, if you compare to Japan, is younger consumers in their 20s and 30s. With our (Great Wines of the World Seoul) events, it's crazy,” he said.
Abalone mille-feuille by chef Park Ji-ho of MAT is served during the Garden Dinner, a signature event of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival, May 11. Courtesy of JFWF
“So many young people are interested in wines. Wineries are so impressed that Koreans are all prepared. They know what they want to try. They ask questions. I'm super positive on Korea with wine. Korea has a really cool scene, which is fun,” the critic added, noting that it is opposite to Japanese wine market, which is more mature, sophisticated with so many wine varieties but struggles to attract young people as wine is still considered for older people.
After nearly 30 years with Wine Spectator, he left in 2010 to establish his own company, JamesSuckling.com. In 2018, he opened James Suckling Wine Central in Hong Kong, with his wife. The couple travels around the world, meet people and drink wine, which became their lifestyle.
“Sometimes when you use that word 'lifestyle,' it sounds sort of fake. But, we're not really creating a lifestyle, we're just like living a life and that's what we do. It's wine, it's travel, it's meeting people. And I think the communication is really more than just wine. It's actually just enjoying your life to the fullest. I always say the slogan 'drink great wine,' but it's also like live life to the fullest,” he said.
For Suckling, wine is all around in his life. “Marie and I met through wine. And every day we talk about it, we enjoy it. And once it's part of your life, it really enhances your life. Because it brings people to the table always talking. That was one of the big things that I didn't realize before I moved to Asia,” he said.
Last year he purchased a vineyard in Martinborough, New Zealand and named it Mirae Vineyard, with 3,000 Pinot noir vines, most of which were planted in 1988. The wines produced from the land are not available commercially, but Suckling shares them with a few friends.
Grilled stone octopus by chef Kim Jin-rae of Seoul Dining is served during the Garden Dinner, a signature event of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival, May 11. Courtesy of JFWF
Suckling is one of the biggest stars of this year's JFWF event, which will wrap up the 10-day journey, Saturday. Grown into a major gastronomic event in picturesque Jeju island, it brought together 18 of the most celebrated chefs from Korea and beyond this year.
These talented individuals have unleashed their artistry, transforming Jeju's ingredients into unforgettable dishes. During the Garden Dinner event, held on May 11, four chefs — Kim Tae-min, Jeon Se-gye, Park Ju-eun and Kim Jin-rae of Michelin-selected restaurants in Seoul — teamed up with three local chefs Park Ji-ho, Lee Jae-cheol and Im Seo-hyung to present a variety of foods.
Michelin-starred chefs such as Kang Min-chul of Kangminchul Retaurant, Kwon Woo-joong of Kwonsooksoo, Kim Do-yun of Yun Seoul and Lee Choong-hu of Zero Complex will collaborate with local gourmet restaurants and culinary school students to create new recipes with local ingredients during the Gala Dinner, finale of the festival, Saturday.