Wine’s missing link
by Robert Joseph
Thank God the food, music and art world aren’t run by the people who run the wine industry. Artists, musicians and chefs are allowed, and even encouraged, to experiment, to...
Author: Tim Atkin
Who judges the judges? More thoughts on wine competitions
by Robert Joseph
We are living in – as the Chinese might say – electorally interesting times. India has just collectively decided to hand its governance to Narendra Modi who is variously described...
What’s the point of wine competitions?
by Robert Joseph
Wine competitions are the worst way to identify the world’s best wines. Apart from all the others that have been tried. I make no excuse for mangling Churchill’s famous quote...
Tokaj’s silver lining
by Wojciech Bońkowski MW
The Tokaj wine region organised its second wine auction recently. Modelled on the Hospices de Beaune, it featured unique lots of dry and sweet wines offered by the 136-litre barrel,...
Wine’s Forbidden Love
by Ron Washam
I’m not sure how I’m going to get through this confession. And, to be perfectly honest, I know that after reading it, you’re going to think differently about me, think...
The rain in Spain
by Tim Atkin
It’s probably scant consolation to château owners struggling to sell their wines en primeur right now, but Bordeaux wasn’t the only European region that had a difficult vintage in 2013....
Museum pieces
by Robert Joseph
There aren’t many wine writers, I imagine, who have been accused of communicating with the dead, but way back in the 1990s, The Sunday Times did describe me as a...
Bordeaux 2004: the indefinite article
by Sarah Abbott MW
This write-up is late, but then so was the vintage. It was interrupted by a visit to Georgia for the International Wine Tourism conference. (Georgia demands much, but gives more....
Why en primeur Bordeaux isn’t like a Louis Vuitton handbag
by The Secret Wine Merchant
‘If you don’t believe in the Bordeaux Primeurs, or think the system is flawed, then don’t take part in it!! You can’t have it both ways. Nothing has changed about...
How to choose a white wine: a beginner’s guide
by Ron Washam
Choosing a white wine can be summed up in a single word: Don’t. People will tell you that white wine is every bit as interesting as red wine. These are...
Why Bordeaux en primeur isn’t working
by Tim Atkin
Setting the price of en primeur Bordeaux has always been something of a poker game, but Château Pontet-Canet’s decision to release its 2013 at €60 ex-négociant, before almost anyone had...
Keep the red trousers flying
by Henry Jeffreys
When authors or publishers get to a certain age, roughly 37, they are issued with a shapeless blue linen jacket. They then fill the pockets with books, papers, tobacco and...