About Tim

Tim Atkin MW 

Tim Atkin MW is one of Britain’s leading wine writers. He is the wine critic of The Times' The Table supplement, where he appears every Thursday, and Wine Editor at Large of Off Licence News. He also writes for Decanter, Woman and Home, The World of Fine Wine, The Economist’s Intelligent Life and Jamie Magazine and appears regularly as a wine expert on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen.

Tim is the winner of many awards, including the Glenfiddich Wine Writer Award in 1988, 1990, 1993, 2004 and 2006 and the Wine Guild of the United Kingdom's Wine Columnist of the Year in 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1996. In 1994, he was the first recipient of the Wines of France Award. The following year he was the co-winner of The Bunch Award, described by Auberon Waugh as the ‘Booker Prize of wine writing’, and the winner of the Waterford Crystal Wine Correspondent of the Year Award. In 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004 he was named Lanson Wine Writer of the Year. Also in 2002, he was highly commended in the PPA Editor of the Year (Business and Professional Magazines) category for his work in transforming Harpers, the UK trade magazine he edited between 2000 and 2003. In 2005 he won the inaugural Wines of Portugal Award. In 2007 he was named Communicator of the Year by the International Wine & Spirit Competition and Best Drink Journalist in the World Food Media Awards. In 2009 he was highly commended in the Columnist of the Year (Business Media) category in the PPA Awards and named Louis Roederer International Wine Columnist of the Year for his articles in The Observer, OLN and Intelligent Life.

Tim has contributed to a number of books on wine, including the New World of Wine, as well as writing two of his own - Chardonnay and Vins de Pays d'Oc. He was also the co-author with Anthony Rose of five editions of the annual consumer guide, Grapevine. He has judged wines in the UK, France, the United States, Argentina, Spain, South Africa, Chile and Australia and is co-chairman of the London-based International Wine Challenge, the world’s biggest and most rigorously judged blind tasting competition.

Tim has lectured on wine to banks, firms of solicitors, singles' evenings and numerous wine associations and clubs, specialising in the wines of France, Spain and the New World. He has appeared on the wine and food stage at the BBC Good Food Show alongside such well-known chefs as Ainsley Harriott, Ken Hom, Gary Rhodes, James Martin and Antony Worrall-Thompson and is a resident expert at The Wine Show, London. He also runs a highly acclaimed wine course in London at Vinoteca.

Tim enjoys tennis, golf, playing the piano and singing and speaks fluent French and good conversational Spanish. He holds a BA from Durham University in Modern Languages and a Masters (with distinction) from the London School of Economics in European Studies. In 1993 he was a European Union fellow on the Paris-based Journalists in Europe programme. In 2001 he passed the Master of Wine examination at the first attempt, winning the Robert Mondavi Award for the best set of theory papers. He is a Caballero del Vino, a Chevalier du Tastevin and a member of the Ordre du Bontemps.