Bordeaux 2011: first impressions
by Tim Atkin
A tractor on the Garonne It feels as if the 2010 Bordeaux campaign has only just ended, but attention spans are shorter than ankle socks in the Gironde. As the...
Topic: Blog
Bordeaux 2010: end of term report
by Tim Atkin
At last, the 2010 en primeur campaign is over. Even for people who are fascinated by what happens in the world’s largest fine wine region, it had become a bore...
Sleepless in Bordeaux?
by Tim Atkin
As Bordeaux prepares to welcome the world to the biennial Vinexpo trade fair this weekend, the increasingly overblown 2010 en primeur campaign has gone into hibernation. But what happened earlier...
A world without Bordeaux en primeur?
by Tim Atkin
It’s a bank holiday in France today, so the 2011 en primeur bandwagon has been pushed into a lay-by until tomorrow morning. To be honest, it’s barely got out of...
Two great South African white blends
by Tim Atkin
Wandering around the London International Wine Fair can be a bewildering experience. You could spend three weeks at ExCel, a series of ugly aircraft hangers in the Docklands, and only...
The trouble with non-vintage Champagne
by Tim Atkin
It’s a while since I’ve tasted a line-up of more than 60 non-vintages Champagnes in a single sitting. Well, standing actually. But the annual event in the sumptuous surroundings of...
Searching for the succulence of Pinot Noir
by Tim Atkin
There are some tastings that you’d cross a busy motorway intersection blindfold to attend. I don’t know what does it for you, but a line-up of village level, premier and...
We need to talk about Kevin
by Tim Atkin
The bar was almost empty when I arrived for a late lunch at the Fulham Wine Rooms with Kevin Judd last Friday. The only other punters were a famous ex-footballer...
Towards a new Chile (Part Two)
by Tim Atkin
I had an unprecedented number of exciting wines on my recent trip to Chile, several of them made from Carmenère, a grape I once described as a “second division variety”....
Towards a new Chile (Part One)
by Tim Atkin
How would you like to be remembered? I have a horrible suspicion that when my spittoon is emptied for the last time I will for ever be associated with an...
Which wine region could you live without?
by Tim Atkin
Jancis Robinson MW My esteemed colleague, Jancis Robinson MW, recently published an interesting article on her website about the expanding world of wine. She referred to a number of eyebrow-raising...
The Outsiders come to London
by Tim Atkin
Getting to grips with terroir “Have you ever thought about making your own wine?” If you write about fermented grape juice for a living it doesn’t take long before someone...