Drinking on the job is usually grounds for firing, but for Clive Pursehouse, it’s part of the gig.
The 50-year-old from Seattle is one of America’s top wine critics and US editor of Decanter magazine.
As part of his role, he drinks more than 1,000 wines a year – sometimes 100 a day – in a quest to find the top bottle.
But while he’s technically ‘tasting the wines, not drinking them,’ even a few sips can add up. He swishes the wine, then spits it out, but small amounts of alcohol are still absorbed, giving him a subtle ‘buzz.’
To stay sharp, Pursehouse uses a professional trick: ‘You have to double spit – which means simply spitting twice after trying a wine – and then rinse your mouth with water.’
Still, he adds, ‘You will absorb alcohol through your mucus membranes… so you have to limit how many wines you taste. You can certainly feel buzzed after tasting and spitting, so it’s not super straightforward that spitting means you won’t feel the wine’s impact.’
If he didn’t take precautions, he said, he ‘would have serious liver issues and look very different.’
Outside of tastings, Pursehouse’s job means he often hosts and attends wine events where he does indulge – pairing his pours with indulgent fare like steak and lobster bisque.
Clive Pursehouse (right) says his record, in terms of the number of tastings he has packed in during one day, is around 110 wines
Though, all that wining and dining comes at a cost.
Keeping healthy ‘is not easy,’ Pursehouse admits, but he does his best to stay fit and strike a balance to offset alcohol’s toll on the body.
Health experts recommend limiting weekly servings.
For women, moderate wine consumption is generally considered to be up to one, 5-ounce glass per day – for men, it’s up to two, 5-ounce glasses per day.
The World Health Organization warns that no level of alcohol consumption is safe for health and names it as one of the leading preventable causes of death in the US behind tobacco.
Research over the past four decades reveals a ‘causal relationship’ between alcohol use and increased risk for at least seven different types of cancer, including of the breast, colon, liver and throat.
For decades, studies suggested there was some benefit to drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, which was thought to be linked to its destressing effects. But in recent years, research has swung the other way.
In excess, it has also been found to impair brain function, impacting memory and coordination, and increasing the risk of mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.
Pursehouse (pictured) is one of America’s top wine critics and US editor of Decanter magazine
For Pursehouse, he strives to enjoy wine in moderation as part of a healthy lifestyle.
In the past, he would stay active by biking to work, but now, working from home, he finds it more difficult to get moving.
Despite this, the avid cyclist tries to clock up to 200 miles a week on his bike when the weather permits.
He also packs in weight training to keep his body toned and muscles strong.
‘This is not an industry that bubbles over with healthy people,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘Writers, critics… we’re wined and dined and over-indulged a lot.
‘There are a lot of writers of wine in particular who don’t do a good job balancing that with activity, healthy eating, etc.’
In 2024 Pete Wells, former restaurant critic for The New York Times, announced he was stepping down after a physical revealed some of his job’s negative health impacts.
In his announcement, he wrote, ‘Early this year, I went for my first physical in longer than I’d care to admit. It was a fair bet that I wasn’t in the best shape of my life.’
Wells revealed that his scores were ‘bad across the board,’ with high cholesterol, blood sugar and hypertension. He was also deemed ‘technically obese’, with the doctor indicating he was on the verge of developing diabetes and fatty liver disease.
In a bid to get his health back on track, Wells quit his job.
Making it even more difficult to keep active, Pursehouse now works from home. Despite this, the avid cyclist tries to clock up to 200 miles a week on his bike
Fully aware of the impact tasting and drinking almost every day of the year has on his health, Pursehouse tries his best to keep himself in shape.
‘Pacing, it’s about moderation, which I think this industry, often lacks, but it’s also about making choices,’ he explains.
‘For me to manage this, my mantra has been: This is a job, not a lifestyle. Though for many, it’s clearly a lifestyle.’
When he first started out as a wine critic, Pursehouse says he was quickly taken in by the perks and had to check in with himself after about six months as he was already feeling the effects.
Commenting on the impact of tasting so much wine as part of his job, the keen sportsman said, ‘I had spent the prior 12 years racing bicycles competitively, I took care of my body, and I’m vain. It felt like it was unravelling pretty quickly, and I had to figure out how to make it all work.
‘If you look at my peers, wine critics, the men in particular in these roles are not aging well, to put it mildly.
‘Our segment of the industry is not a picture of health, and I think the trappings of the job – the fancy meals, the big tastings, and then layer on lots of travel, time in hotels and difficulty establishing good habits – it can lead one to a place where health and longevity take a back seat to another helping of foie gras, a second glass of port, or whatever.
‘I think you can be successful in this industry and take care of yourself, but you’ve got to be serious about balancing it.’
In terms of his diet, Pursehouse counteracts copious amounts of wine with lots of water – he aims for ‘at least’ two liters a day.
While he does drink wine at dinner or socially, he always tries to have one glass of water for every glass of alcohol consumed.
On the food front, he says he doesn’t follow a diet, but he tends to favor foods high in fiber, protein and antioxidants.
‘Plenty of fruit, veggies and fish,’ he says.
Before heading off to yet another tasting session, he adds, ‘and no, wine unfortunately doesn’t count as one of my five-a-day [portions].’
