Novelty wines: Arrogant Frog and other labels
by Tim Atkin
Back in the early 1980s, the Australian producer Wolf Blass invented a sparkling red called René Pogel. Wolfie, as he’s known to friends, is a brash, but extremely successful bloke,...
Topic: Column
The other side of own-label
by Tim Atkin
As oxymorons go, they may not be as absurd as “French resistance”, “amicable divorce” and “camping holiday”, but there’s still something fundamentally silly about Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Spaghetti Bolognese,...
Wine, social media and the power of the internet
by Tim Atkin
Clay Shirky may sound like the sort of moniker people come up with when they combine their first pet with their mother’s maiden name to create a fictional porn star,...
Where now for post-World Cup South Africa?
by Tim Atkin
The idea of golf being used as a symbol for the new, racially integrated South Africa might sound absurd to some. You’ve only got to walk around a top course...
Wines to drink by the Med
by Tim Atkin
When the package tour operator Goldtrail Travel collapsed last week, cancelling the summer holidays of some 50,000 customers, bar owners in Greece and Turkey must have had mixed feelings. Goldtrail’s...
In praise of natural wine
by Tim Atkin
The wine style I want to promote doesn’t come from a specific region, although most of its exponents are French and Italian. More frustratingly still, it has no legal definition...
A toast to Spain
by Tim Atkin
Oh to have been in Rioja when Spain clinched the World Cup on Sunday. The spot I would have chosen is Los Caños, one of my favourite tapas bars, which...
Reds to help you chill out this summer
by Tim Atkin
The sommelier’s eyebrows arched like circumflex accents as he spat the words back at me, Gallic steam hissing from his ears. “Vous voulez un seau à glace?” he demanded incredulously,...
How fine is Tesco’s Finest*?
by Tim Atkin
Tesco’s Finest, or rather Finest*, wine range is celebrating its tenth birthday at the moment, complete with a press tasting, some corporate chest beating and a Finest Limited Edition 2000...
Eating out? Please bring a bottle
by Tim Atkin
How do you spend $47,221.09 on lunch for six people? Assuming your credit card company will authorise the transaction, it’s surprisingly easy if you’re a billionaire. To paraphrase Withnail in...
Au revoir, Chamarré?
by Tim Atkin
“Made in France, enjoyed everywhere,” runs the tag line on Chamarré’s appropriately colourful website. At the time of writing, both parts of this statement remain true, but for how much...
The trouble with Australia
by Tim Atkin
Australians don’t do pessimism. They’re generally such a chipper, stop-moaning-and-get on with-it nation that they’d rather share a hot tub with a great white shark than be accused of whingeing...