Born in London, raised in Australia and educated in Tokyo and Paris, Goodwin splits his time between Tokyo – where he resided full-time for 14 years – and his beloved Sydney.
Goodwin is a dux of the Len Evans Tutorial, Japan’s first Master of Wine, educator, consultant, judge, critic and a highly regarded motivational speaker and presenter. He consults for select restaurant groups, private clients, lauded Montalcino estate Biondi-Santi and Langton’s, Australia’s premier auction house and purveyor of fine wine. Goodwin also hosts Taste with Langton’s, an interactive YouTube tasting platform for top clients.
From 2001 until November 2012 he served as wine director – educator and buyer – for one of Asia’s largest restaurant groups: Global Dining Japan. In Japan Goodwin was also the ‘wine face’ for All Nippon Airways’ first and business classes, for which he created a bespoke MW Cuvée, a world first, while training a legion of inflight attendants. The airline produced a documentary on Goodwin’s life in wine, viewed by nine million people across the inflight entertainment platform and The Food Network.
During that time Goodwin also hosted Divino Tuscany with James Suckling and musician Sting.
More recently he also took on an Asia-focused ambassadorial role for a champagne house, in addition to founding his own company, Wine Diamonds, a niche importer based in Tokyo.
Goodwin co-writes The Wine Companion as a chief critic and recently served as Bettane et Desseauve critical voice across Antipodean wines for the Chinese market.
Before Japan and from 1998 to 2001 he was one of three sommeliers at Veritas restaurant in Manhattan’s Grammercy neighborhood, and before this at Juveniles in Paris. As a Wine Spectator Grand Award winner and Michelin-hatted restaurant Veritas boasted what was arguably the finest wine list of any restaurant in the world, holding deep reserves of Burgundy, Rhône, Champagne, Bordeaux, Tuscan and Piedmontese wines. Goodwin also worked as a sommelier at Willys in Paris and Michael’s in Los Angeles.
Goodwin had his own Japanese television show on wine – Vintage – (2000), served as guest lecturer on wine marketing at Keio, one of Japan’s most prestigious universities, from 2002 to 2004, hosted wine dinners for winemakers, châteaux owners, Hollywood stars and corporate organisations, while boasting strong traction across media channels, having been featured in the New York Times, Decanter, Wallpaper, The Japan Times, Tokyo Calendar, Newsweek, Elle, CNN, Wine Business International, Wine and Qantas magazine among other publications.
