Argentina’s Malbec obsession
by Tim Atkin
Is Argentina too dependent on Malbec? The question might seem absurd – few countries have managed to associate themselves so successfully with a single grape – but it’s beginning to...
Author: Tim Atkin
Wine and the Olympic spirit
by Tim Atkin
What a fortnight. Even if you have little or no interest in sports – be they sitting down, standing up or floating in a pool – you have to admit...
Try before you buy: the future of wine?
by Natasha Hughes MW
Some 10 years ago, when I first started out as a wine, journalist I was commissioned (by a certain Tim Atkin) to write about why people bought the wines they...
When bloggers become wine retailers
by Matt Walls
It used to be easy. Not so long ago, the UK wine landscape could be mapped on three points of a triangle: those who sold the wine (aka the industry...
Too much bottle?
by Simon Woolf
It’s the wine industry’s dirty little secret. The back label tells you about the wine producer’s respect for the environment, their commitment to preserving the terroir and farming sustainably. But...
Carignan: Chile returns to its roots
by Tim Atkin
Think of a word to describe the Chilean wine industry. Dependable? Consistent? Mass-produced? I’ve played this game with consumers and Chile generally elicits such responses. People in the wine trade...
Pierre Mansour: Wine Society selector
by Matt Walls
It does not sell Armand de Brignac ‘Ace of Spades’ Champagne, nor does it sponsor the drinks at footballers’ weddings. The Wine Society doesn’t court the ‘glamour’ end of the...
Wine at the movies
by Brian Miller
“I like to drink wine more than I used to. Anyway, I’m drinking more.” Marlon Brando, ‘The Godfather’ With his proceeds from ‘The Godfather’ director Francis Ford Coppola bought himself...
What’s the point of posh tastings?
by Tim Atkin
A friend of mine who’s a barrister calls what I do for a living “the most un-job like job in the world”. It’s a common perception. “Need an unpaid assistant?”...
Lord Sugar’s nose for fine wine
by Tim Atkin
It’s a rare occurrence, admittedly, but there are times when Lord Sugar, the original East End barrow boy made good, talks a lot of sense. The latest series of The...
Sicily: a continent comes of age
by Tim Atkin
There’s a spot on the north face of Etna, Sicily’s smouldering, still active volcano, where you can stand in front of the remnants of the last big lava flow, a...
Wine, toilet paper and Costco
by Tim Atkin
Like many of you, I suspect, I’d never heard of Annette Alvarez-Peters until she appeared on American television recently, chatting about wine, toilet paper and televisions. But suddenly, she’s all...