The Lismore Sauvignon Blanc Tasting
by Tim Atkin
The fourth annual Lismore tasting, pitching South Africa against the rest of the world, focused on wooded Sauvignon Blanc and white Bordeaux blends. In previous editions we have looked at...
Author: Tim Atkin
English wine and the Union Flag
by Tim Atkin
What does the Union Jack symbolise to you? Pride? Shame? Sovereignty? Populism? Peace? Colonialism? All are possible responses and have been almost since the flag was designed in 1800 to...
The Rollercoaster of the US Wine Landscape
by Christy Canterbury MW
The US wine industry is perched precipitously atop a rollercoaster – on one of those tummy-turning peaks where you can’t see over the front to anticipate which way you’re lurching...
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: too much of a good thing?
by Tim Atkin
In the recent history of wine, it’s hard to think of a bigger success story than New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. People famously complain that the fastest way to earn a...
The A.I. of Wine Spectator
by Ron Washam
The two words that come to mind when one thinks of the “Wine Spectator’s” lineup of wine critics — James Laube, Matt Kramer, Tim Fish, James Molesworth, Harvey Steiman et...
South African wine’s Day Zero
by Tim Atkin
Day Zero sounds like the title of a dystopian disaster movie, starring Matt Damon or an ageing Bruce Willis perhaps. But what’s happening in South Africa right now has nothing...
So You Wanna Be a Wine Judge.Com
by Ron Washam
Hello! And welcome to So You Wanna Be a Wine Judge.Com!, your online wine judge certification program. Once you complete this simple online course, you’ll be completely qualified to judge...
Praising Chile’s diversity
by Tim Atkin
The samples didn’t look very special, to be honest. Bottled in the sort of thing they ask you to fill in doctor’s surgeries, they’d arrived by plane from the south...
Why buy Bordeaux en primeur?
by Tim Atkin
During Richard Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972, the Chinese premier Zhou Enlai was asked what impact he thought the 1789 French Revolution had had on the world. His reply...
What do we mean by fine wine?
by Tim Atkin
“Wine doesn’t get much better than this”, a London-based wine merchant wrote on Instagram recently. Pictured above his comment was the cork from a bottle of 1959 Château Lafite-Rothschild, his...
The Future of Wine (1988)
by Ron Washam
When I first began blogging about wine back in 1988, there wasn’t even an internet. The whole world was like North Korea, except with dogs. That didn’t stop me from...
The HoseMaster of Wine’s Christmas wish list
by Ron Washam
Dear Santa, This Christmas, I don’t want anything for myself. I have everything I need, Santa. A cellar filled with the great wines of the world, and Oregon wines, too....