The dangers of karaoke journalism
by Tim Atkin
The two emails arrived on the same morning. The first was from Mark A, offering me an “exclusive invite” to join BIGinfluencers.com and “connect with some of the biggest brands”;...
Author: Tim Atkin
On the Island of Lost Master Sommeliers
by Ron Washam
You can’t find it on a map. Believe me, you don’t want to. It’s one of those God-forsaken places in the world we all do our best as a civilized...
The Ghosts of Wine
by Christina Rasmussen
“If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the...
When Tony met Rowan
by Tim Atkin
Autobiographies, according to George Orwell, are only to be trusted when they reveal something disgraceful about the subject. If you discount the revelation that he got a third class degree...
The Rules of BYO
by Matt Walls
Many of us have a few ‘special’ bottles in our collections but finding the time to drink them can prove surprisingly tricky. We don’t all have the skills or the...
The HoseMaster of Wine™ Solves The Enduring Mysteries of Wine
by Ron Washam
Wine is more mysterious than the success of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the Yellow Tail of musical theater composers. It’s more mysterious than North Korean FaceBook. Wine has more secrets than...
The 2019 Lismore Tasting
by Tim Atkin
This was the fifth Lismore tasting, designed to pit the best wines of South Africa blind against their peers from the rest of the world. In all, we tasted 35...
It’s Amateur Hour – do you speak the lingo?
by Celia Bryan-Brown
“All utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in”: Toni Morrison, 1998 “The times they are a-changin”: Bob Dylan, 1964 Digital media was...
Listán Prieto: the New World’s original grape variety
by Tim Atkin
Compiling a list of the ten best red and white grapes is an entertaining parlour game for consenting wine lovers. Should Chardonnay trump Riesling and Chenin Blanc? And what about...
How I taste
by Ron Washam
The first, and maybe most important, step is to put on my tasting clothes. You cannot produce consistent tasting notes wearing different clothes all the time. Duh. The best critics...
La Lune Sous L’Eau
by Peter Pharos
My favourite wine bar, La Lune Sous L’Eau, is tucked away on a small side-street of a little French town, yet it is near enough a major airport so I...
On Parker and Parkerisation
by Tim Atkin
Robert Parker is one of the most talked about and divisive individuals in the world of wine. Now into his seventies and the twilight of his career, he still has...