JAMES SUCKLING HAS RETIRED: “WINE SPECTATOR” BROKE THE NEWS. BRUCE SANDERSON, SENIOR EDITOR AND TASTING DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAN JOURNAL WILL HEAD TASTING ITALIAN WINES IN NEW YORK

“James Suckling, who collaborated with “Wine Spectator” since 1981 and held the position of Director of the European office since 1988 has retired,” reads the www.winespectator.com site. 
“The tasting supervised by Suckling has been redistributed, but,” continues the note from the magazine, the wines will continue to be “analyzed according to our standard method of blind tasting, in our editorial office in New York”.
The chief editor and tasting director Bruce Sanderson will supervise Italian wines,” says the editorial staff of Wine Spectator. Sanderson, who has worked with the magazine for 18 years, currently supervises the wines of Burgundy, Champagne and Germany”.
“James Suckling made a significant contribution to the success of Wine Spectator”, said the publisher Marvin Shanken.
“He will be missed: we are very fortunate to have such a professional staff. Transferring tasting to New York, where we have a larger staff and better logistical control, will enable us to strengthen our supervision of these important wine regions. Other areas that historically were supervised by James Suckling will be distributed between Wine Spectator journalists James Molesworth and Kim Marcus. Molesworth, who is responsible for the Rhone and Loire Valleys, will add Bordeaux to his portfolio. He has worked with Wine Spectator for 14 years and supervises wines from Argentina, Chile and South Africa”. Marcus supervises Portuguese table wines and will assume “the responsibility also for Port. He joined the editorial staff of “Wine Spectator” 23 years ago and is responsible for the wines of Austria and southern France”.
Source: www.winespectator.com