Wine Fortunes
by Peter Pharos
“How do you make a small fortune in social media? Start out with a large one,” tweeted Elon Musk shortly after buying Twitter, and I felt like we ought to...
Author: Tim Atkin
Seeing Differently
by Margaret Rand
How, today, can a wine surprise us? And does that element of surprise come by accident, while both we and the wine are, as it were, looking elsewhere, or can...
Under The Weather
by Rod Smith MW
Bordeaux needs a break. It was once regarded by the French themselves as the greatest of wine regions, but now youngsters are drinking less (and less wine) – just as...
A Fair Deal
by Tim Atkin
There are a few grapes still out there on the vines, but the verdict on the quality of the 2025 crop was harvested some time ago. After a run of...
Tropical Boundaries
by Nic Spencer
My first encounter with Indian wines left me unimpressed. They had a hint of two-stroke exhaust and DEET on the nose, reminiscent of the smell that hits you when the...
Bulking Up
by Andy Neather
In the vast factory I’m surrounded by the clink of bottling lines. Despite the huge space, there aren’t many workers, and most of them are either adjusting robots or zipping...
The Dilution of Terroir
by Guy Woodward
First up, a trigger warning… I’m approaching this article from the premise that terroir exists. It’s a position to which I would hope most readers of this site would subscribe....
Uncomfortable Truths
by Kate Lofthouse
Champagne is one of the elegant extras in life. These words, borrowed from Dickens, capture some of the glamour and sparkle of Champagne, its decadence and luxury. It is a...
The Truth About Myths
by Sara Danese
Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese don’t mix Bordeaux with Coke. Yet, between November 2017 and September 2018, I lost count of how many times I was told this, along...
An Uncertain Road
by Peter Pharos
I stood there watching Mark Zuckerberg welcome the new year with an announcement that Meta goes MAGA, and I knew that I should feel worried, angry or afraid, but a...
Resuscitating The English Patient
by John Atkinson MW
Two decades ago, I gave a PowerPoint presentation on Champagne in Champagne. At the end, there was a ripple of applause that fell decibels short of ‘polite’ on the clapometer....
The Need For A Story
by Margaret Rand
When did winemakers become philosophers? Is it that if you charge more than a certain amount for a bottle of wine you have to justify it by some intellectual heft,...