BIG breaks often come out of the blue, but beer and cider drinker Neal Martin’s couldn’t have been more off-piste.

The 45-year-old Westcliff High School for Boys alumnus was this month crowned the world’s most influential wine critic, being appointed official Bordeaux and Burgundy regions reviewer for the Robert Parker consumer guide.

The role was previously held for the past 38 years by Mr Parker himself, who has now decided to retire.

It’s quite a climb for a man from Leigh, who admits to being completely ignorant about wine in his twenties, preferring beer and cider.

In the fine tradition of great things coming from humble beginnings, Neal got his first break in the wine world at the Turnpike Off Licence, in London Road.

“I got my first job in wine in 1996,” he says. “I’d lived in Japan for a year teaching English and came back not knowing what I wanted to do and, like most people, I fell into it by accident.

“I had an interview with a Japanese company where part of my responsibilities would involve wine – but I didn’t know anything about wine at all.

“It sounded interesting, though, and I was living near the Turnpike which back then was more of a proper wine shop than your standard off licence.

“I went in and memorised some wine names so, when I had the interview and they asked the inevitable question ‘Which wines do you like?’ I just reeled off names I’d memorised in the shop.

“They gave me the job.”

For the first time, Neal was tasting wines – and expensive ones at that – which led to a passion which would move him to set up his own wine blog.

It wasn’t long before it began to get a reputation for its solid knowledge with an irreverent Essex twang, and was noticed by foremost wine critic Robert Parker.

“I started a website in 2003 called Wine Journal which became very popular,” he says. “It was sort of focused on fine wine but written in a very humorous style because I wanted people to enjoy reading it and not feel that wine was not for them because it should be for everybody.

“I always put references to Leigh and Southend in it had it ended up getting a very big following in America so I had all these Americans saying ‘I know where the longest pier in the world is now and where the Grand is.’ “Then ten years ago Robert Parker, the most famous wine critic in the world, was reading it and asked me to join him.

“It was surreal in a way, I just received an email in the morning, and when I go through my emails I delete all the spam and very nearly deleted his email.

“When I read it, I thought it might have been someone playing a joke on me, and I actually called a few friend asking if it was a joke email.”

As you might expect from a man who takes a no-nonsense approach to his profession and attends wine tastings in jeans and a t-shirt, Neal has never forgotten his Essex roots despite now living the high life in Surrey.

He even led a wine tasting session at Southend’s Pipe of Port in August.

But then, he does have quite a debt to pay.

“My parents still live in Leigh and every time I go back now I go past Turnpike,” he says. I just think to myself ‘If I hadn’t gone in that shop, none of this would have happened.’”