Thinking outside the shop
by Matt Walls
Some interesting things have been happening to the wine shop over the past few years. Evolutionary pressures appear to have pushed it into unexpected territory. Ten years ago, it wasn’t...
Matt Walls
Matt Walls began working in drinks selling super strength lager and fags in an off-licence. Since then, he has worked for big chains, small independents and everything in between. He now spends most of his time writing about wine, contributing to consumer and trade publications and timatkin.com. His first book, Drink Me: How to choose, taste and enjoy wine, won the Newcomer of the Year at the 2013 Fortnum & Mason Awards. He also advises restaurants, hosts tastings, runs training courses and is a judge for the International Wine Challenge and Decanter. Matt covers the Rhône for timatkin.com.
Articles by Matt Walls
Top UK Wine Bars
by Matt Walls
Over the past ten years, a new wave of modern wine bars has risen in London and since spread around the UK. Whether you’re a seasoned drinker or just starting...
Trocken roll: Riesling remixed
by Matt Walls
Generational bickering between winemakers is nothing new. Sometimes, like the use of barriques in Barolo, it’s a stylistic choice rather than a simple ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of doing things....
Northern Whites: wine in a cold climate
by Matt Walls
Inspiration can come in many forms. For Anders Selmer, his lightbulb moment was at a café in Copenhagen, and it was shaped like a turnip: “I was served a turnip...
Champagne: where the party’s really at
by Matt Walls
Sometimes I feel very lucky to be living in the UK when it comes to getting hold of good wine. Since the UK has historically been an importer of other...
A ferment about Furmint
by Matt Walls
To be sung to the tune of ‘Start Wearing Purple’ by Gogol Bordello: “Start drinking Furmint drinking Furmint, Start drinking Furmint for me now, All your sanity – and wits...
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...
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...
Does Decanter Magazine make you blush?
by Matt Walls
There was one magazine above all that I found embarrassing to buy as a student. I used to surreptitiously snatch it from the newsstand and guiltily stuff it into a...