 At this time Suckling responded to an advertisement for a new contributor to "Wine Spectator", then a local publication with only eight hundred subscribers.Suckling joined "Wine Spectator" in 1981, and after a large increase of subscribers, relocated with the magazine to San Francisco in 1982.In 1983, Suckling began blind tasting Bordeaux with Alexis Lichine, and for the first time visited Europe in 1984, visiting various leading wineries in Italy.