wine-journal was a bright shining light in the firmament of online wine-writing; frankly the copy was far better than the regurgitated prose that passes for advertorials in most magazines. Neal Martin’s wit and personality – not to mention independence of thought – shone out for all to see. Serious, comedic, even tragi-comedy.

It is right that he is recognised and indeed rewarded for his effort and it is telling that it was Robert Parker himself that hired Neal – kudos, as he says. It’s just a shame that his back-catalogue of works is now withdrawn from the site, our only remaining tool the wayback machine, unless you want to pay uncle Bob of course! Funny thing is, we will probably see more of him now than we did before
– some you win, some you lose 😉