Looking For Something Else
by Margaret Rand
Most of the time, for most of history, people have wanted wine to taste other than how it does. That’s normal: raw beef straight off the bullock is a lot...
Author: Tim Atkin
The Pursuit Of Subtlety
by Dwight Furrow
If consumers cannot taste “terroir” should the wine world put so much value on place of origin? Margaret Rand raised the issue, on this very site, in an article titled...
The Trouble With China
by Tim Atkin
“Don’t trust them,” says Leon Panetta, a rueful former US Defense Secretary interviewed in the BBC’s three-part documentary China: A New World Order, “that’s the bottom line.” It’s advice that...
Making Sense Of Life
by Anne Burchett
‘What pages are the sex scenes on, so that I don’t waste any time?’ Oz Clarke asked me. I’d sent him my novel, Tasting Notes, and explained, in person first,...
Decolonising A Wine List
by Donald Edwards
In June last year Rio Tinto destroyed a cave in the Jukaan gorge in Western Australia. With it went 46,000 years of Aboriginal history and one of the most sacred...
Passion Is Not A Panacea
by Robert Joseph
Sometimes I struggle to keep up. I was only just getting used to the idea of every brand needing to have a “story” and every business a “purpose”. Now, the...
Anchors
by Farrah Berrou
For the last two decades, I have been anchored in Lebanon. I have also been an anchor for people who have left: the friend you could moor your boat to,...
In Search Of Familiarity
by Margaret Rand
It was a comment by a South African producer a few weeks ago that set me thinking. He said, in effect, that South Africa isn’t making enough Chardonnay. It should,...
Don’t Over Think It, Just Drink It
by Chris Wilson
My mum is a gardener and sometimes works with a friend and fellow gardener called Don who takes care of hard landscaping, hedges and tree felling. As you’d expect given...
A Solar System Or A Galaxy?
by Tom Hewson
Noble Rot Magazine recently ran a blind ‘Champagne vs English Sparkling Wine’tasting in which Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label placed higher than a number of fêted smaller producers(the first iteration of...
Bubblegum In Your Coffee?
by Jono Le Feuvre
When you’re six years old, “less” is never “more”. It’s a glorious time of learning and discovery. But at some point, most of us become aware that it’s cooler (or at...
Can Wine Survive On The High Street?
by Tim Atkin
The numbers are terrifying. With the imminent closure of 124 Debenhams stores and the loss of 12,000 jobs, the high street has arguably suffered its highest profile casualty since Woolworths...