Alsace and the meaning of tradition
by Tim Atkin
The wine world thrives on novelty: new vintages, new flavours, new producers. In some ways, this is both understandable and necessary. Creating a bit of sizzle around a category that,...
Author: Tim Atkin
Should Bordeaux en primeur take a holiday?
by Tim Atkin
Nothing divides opinions quite like Bordeaux en primeur. If you’ve spent the last few weeks in the Australian outback, without access to a mobile phone or the internet, you might...
Redefining fine wine
by Tim Atkin
The wine world is often celebrated for its breadth and diversity – all those grape varieties, countries, regions and sub-regions – but there are times when it feels like a...
Pinot Central by Alan Brady
by Tim Atkin
A friend of mine in the south of France runs a business advising people who want to buy vineyards. Some of them have lots of money, refugees from the city...
The UK’s culture of cheapness
by Tim Atkin
Anyone who still believes the UK is the centre of the wine world should pay a visit to ProWein, the annual trade fair in Düsseldorf. The place has a self-confidence...
2010 Rhônes: still time to flash the plastic
by Tim Atkin
“They are both for sale.” The response of the Bordeaux château owner to my question about the relative merits of the 2009 and 2010 vintages was delivered with tongue lodged...
In search of “ordinary” wine consumers
by Tim Atkin
Imagine a wine column that began with the following sentence: “Now since there is much to be written on wine, let us discuss briefly some points of special interest after...
Robert Parker, Nigel Tufnel and the 2009 Bordeaux
by Tim Atkin
There’s a famous moment in This is Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner’s spoof “rockumentary” about an ageing English heavy metal band, when the lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel, is showing off his...
Argentina: full speed ahead?
by Tim Atkin
The recent arrival of HMS Dauntless in the south Atlantic, complete with Prince William in his role as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, hasn’t done much for Anglo-Argentine relations....
My Dream Cellar
by Tim Atkin
Imagine, just for one minute, that you were richer than Bill Gates: more loaded than a Hollywood film star, Warren Buffett and a Russian oligarch put together. Which wines would...
Burgundy 2010: the year of the sorting table
by Tim Atkin
Vosne-Romanée. © Tim Atkin MW Burgundy week has become such an established feature of the annual tasting circuit – half of London’s livery halls, art galleries and old court rooms...
Me, Kurt Vonnegut and wine
by Tim Atkin
One of my favourite cuttings, passed on to me by my father more than a decade ago, first appeared in an unlikely place: Inc. Technology magazine. It’s an interview with...