Peter Liem
Peter Liem is an American wine critic known for his Champagne expertise. He is a senior correspondent for Wine & Spirits and has run the online ChampagneGuide.net since 2009, a subscription guide to Champagne wines and producers. He also co-authored a book about Sherry.
Liem began in wine retail and, with Kirk Wille, started the Riesling Report bi-monthly e-magazine (2000–2002). He joined Wine & Spirits in 2004 as a senior editor, tasting director, and critic, covering Alsace, Austria, Germany, and the Loire. In 2006 he moved to the Champagne village of Dizy, earning a reputation as a sharp, meticulous taster.
After launching ChampagneGuide.net in 2009, the site was described as expanding on major Champagne works and potentially becoming a go-to resource for the region. Liem also wrote a long-running blog, Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel, from 2007 to 2009.
Liem has earned recognition from peers: in 2008 Eric Asimov praised him for coining the term “gob-less” to describe wines of grace and balance, and in 2009 Asimov appreciated a Liem column comparing wines made from ungrafted vines with cheese from unpasteurized milk.
In October 2012, Liem and Jesús Barquín published Sherry, Manzanilla and Montilla: A Guide to the Traditional Wines of Andalucía. Liem has visited the Jerez region regularly since 1998 and did much of the book’s work starting in 2011; Barquín contributed the historical and general sections, while Liem wrote producer profiles to avoid conflicts of interest.
In October 2017, Liem released Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroirs of the Iconic Region with Ten Speed Press. To accompany the Sherry book, Liem and Rosemary Gray organized SherryFest 2012 NYC, a four-day event in New York City featuring tastings, seminars, and producer dinners, including a sherry tasting with 20 producers and more than 130 sherries.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:32 (CET).