Cork Talk – Page 29 – Tim Atkin

Tempranillo

Cenicero is one of the nicest towns in Rioja, with a picturesque central square, narrow streets of white-walled houses and an elevated walkway full of old-timers in black berets philosophically...

Food & wine

Top UK Restaurant Wine Lists

The best restaurants understand that what you drink and how it’s served will make a big difference to how much you enjoy your visit. It doesn’t matter how good the...

Grapes

Riesling

by Tim Atkin

A wine merchant friend of mine likes to play an innocuous trick on members of the public. When novice punters come up to him at tastings and ask for a...

Food & wine

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...

Grapes

Semillon

by Tim Atkin

To the uninitiated, harvesting grapes can seem like a lot of fun. What could be nicer than walking, secateurs in hand, down a row of fruit-laden vines, with autumn sunshine...

Grapes

Gewürztraminer

by Tim Atkin

On my first visit to Istanbul, I spent a fascinating, if expensive, afternoon amid the colourful madness of the Grand Bazaar. There were slick performances from salesmen offering ‘big cheapness’...

Grapes

Sauvignon Blanc

by Tim Atkin

My local wine merchant was in conspiratorial mood. ‘I have a couple of bottles under the counter. I can let you have them but, for goodness’ sake, don’t tell anyone...

Around wine

Herbs

by Tim Atkin

Getting carried away is easy when you’ve wandering among the vines. Many are the tasters who claim to have identified aspects of the local flora in the character of a...

Around wine

Minerals

by Tim Atkin

Can wine taste of the soil? The French, who set great store by such things, are always going on about ‘le goût de terroir’. They mean this quite literally on...

Around wine

Nuts

by Tim Atkin

Wine tasting is an inexact science. We professional slurpers talk in generalities rather than specifics. That’s why terms like ‘nutty’ crop up so often in tasting notes. The same goes...

Around wine

Petrol

by Tim Atkin

The satirical columnist, Simon Hoggart, once ran an occasional series of disgusting-sounding tasting notes which, as he put it, ‘would make you decide never ever to buy, still less open,...

Around wine

Red Fruits

by Tim Atkin

‘And where were you born?’ someone asked me at a dinner party recently. ‘In an orchard or a hedgerow?’ It’s easy to smile at wine writers. We will happily spend...