What’s the point of food and wine matching?
by Natasha Hughes MW
One of my earliest gigs as a wine writer was to write up profiles of some of the world’s hottest sommeliers for the Decanter website (which, at the time, generated...
Topic: Column
Creating a stink about screwcaps
by Tim Atkin
Imagine being a cork salesman in Australia. If you turned up suffering from bubonic plague, a dead rat dangling from each hand, you’d be only slightly less welcome at most...
Wine education: the difference between a Bordeaux and a claret
by Tim Atkin
“I love Chablis, but I can’t stand Chardonnay.” Anyone who has ever done a public tasting, mixing with people who know what they like but not a lot more, will...
Patrick Sandeman: a life well lived
by Tim Atkin
It was one of those where-were-you-when-you-heard-the-news moments. I was sitting at my computer on a Sunday evening when I saw a Tweet by wine journalist, Guy Woodward: “Truly terrible news...
Never mind the quality…
by Tim Atkin
What’s in a name? If you think that monikers are irrelevant to the choices we make ask yourself if you’d buy something called Brad’s Drink, surf the net using BackRub,...
Before the rain: 25 wine euphemisms
by Tim Atkin
They’ve barely picked a grape in Bordeaux, but the region’s euphemism generator is already up and running. “A winemaker’s vintage”, as one château owner described the 2012, is another way...
Definitely Picking Time
by Brian Miller
the fucking sky looks fucking dim the fucking forecast’s fucking grim the fucking fruit won’t fucking set the fucking farm’s in fucking debt my fucking pay’s a fucking crime evidently...
Wine and the Olympic spirit
by Tim Atkin
What a fortnight. Even if you have little or no interest in sports – be they sitting down, standing up or floating in a pool – you have to admit...
Try before you buy: the future of wine?
by Natasha Hughes MW
Some 10 years ago, when I first started out as a wine, journalist I was commissioned (by a certain Tim Atkin) to write about why people bought the wines they...
Too much bottle?
by Simon Woolf
It’s the wine industry’s dirty little secret. The back label tells you about the wine producer’s respect for the environment, their commitment to preserving the terroir and farming sustainably. But...
Carignan: Chile returns to its roots
by Tim Atkin
Think of a word to describe the Chilean wine industry. Dependable? Consistent? Mass-produced? I’ve played this game with consumers and Chile generally elicits such responses. People in the wine trade...
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...