The Grande Dame of Pauillac
by Tim Atkin
As you’d expect of a former actress, liked an audience. When Château Mouton-Rothschild hosted the Fête de la Fleur celebration at Vinexpo in June 2003, after guests had enjoyed liberal...
Author: Tim Atkin
How to become a successful sommelier
by Ron Washam
Having the letters MS after your name doesn’t mean you’re a sommelier. A sommelier works in a restaurant. From the several dozen I’ve met, judging by their occupations, I was...
First Growth claret: an affordable luxury?
by Henry Jeffreys
In 2012 I won a bottle of Mouton Rothschild 1996 in a writing competition. When we moved house last year I didn’t trust the movers with it so I wrapped...
What’s the future for Chinese wine?
by Tim Atkin
First time visitors to Beijing are often struck by the pollution that seems to blanket the city on a daily basis, reducing visibility and filling lungs with undesirable gunk. It’s...
The Confessions of Dr Conti
by Ron Washam
OK, I made a deal with Mr. Koch to tell everything I know about wine fraud. You know, I think it’s going to feel good to get all this off...
The natural wine challenge
by Robert Joseph, Simon Woolf
What happens if you take two wine critics with opposing, sometimes polarised views on natural wine, throw them into London’s biggest celebration of the sector and force them to taste...
Call me Jancis
by Ron Washam
Call me Jancis. Everyone does, even though it’s not my name. Well, it is when I’m conducting a wine seminar, or giving a speech at some God-forsaken outpost of weird...
The net effect
by Tim Atkin
“Would you like to go up in one of our planes?” asked Eduardo Martín, director of the Argentinean Ministry of Agriculture’s anti-hail squad. It was an offer that was all...
In praise of wine consultants
by Robert Joseph
“I can’t help admiring producers who don’t rely on someone else to tell them how to make their wine. Most of the bottles I enjoy drinking reflect their origin, as...
Natural opinions – unfiltered and slightly fecal
by Ron Washam
A couple of weeks ago, Jamie Goode published an article on his blog, WineAnorexic (“Tragically Thin Opinions About Wine”) in which he bravely expressed his “unfiltered opinions on the world...
Sherry’s great leap forward
by Tim Atkin
Is Sherry in danger of becoming cool? Outside London, where a new generation of Spanish restaurants and tapas bars is slowly transforming the image of this most traditional of fortified...
Should cats sell wine?
by Henry Jeffreys
The first rule of the internet is that pictures of cats will beat anything in popularity. I have a writer friend who is pretty big on Twitter. He has 20k...