Laithwaites on the up

by Tim Atkin
Laithwaites, the UK’s biggest home-delivery wine business, has always reminded me of Dan Brown: loved by the general public, but dismissed as a bit of a joke by us critics....

A toast to Grenache

by Tim Atkin
TS Eliot got it wrong in my view: October, not April, is the cruellest month. Once the clocks go back you know you’re in for a winter of sniffles, short...

Go wild with The Bunch

by Tim Atkin
Attending a tasting run by The Bunch, a group of Britain’s leading independent wine merchants, is like watching The Magnificent Seven. Every time the posse reassembles, it seems to have...

Sparkling form

by Tim Atkin
Help! I fear I’m turning into a Prosecco snob. You might think this is slightly silly – like favouring one daytime soap over another – but I’m serious. There are...

Majestic’s six bottle switch

by Tim Atkin
Economic necessity or swift-footed tactical shimmy? Majestic’s decision to reduce its minimum in-store purchase from 12 to six bottles – as predicted here on 2 August – is arguably both...

A Fruity Number

by Tim Atkin
I know we’ve just come through the silly season, when tales of killer chipmunks and dolphin sign language deputise for what’s normally classed as news in the British media, but...

Wolf Blass and his wines

by Tim Atkin
There are so many stories about Wolf Blass that it’s hard to know when fact shades into fiction. Did he really page himself at airports so that other people would...

Aussie wines and The Ashes

by Tim Atkin
How good was that? For an Englishman who’s passionate about sport, nothing compares with beating the Aussies at cricket, not even a win on penalties against the Germans or a...

Sideways look

by Tim Atkin
The Hitching Post in Buellton has got used to the attention by now. Five years after the hit movie Sideways featured two scenes filmed at its friendly, no frills bar,...