Articles
17th Jun 2013
WANC
by Robert Joseph
In the Wine And Novelty Corp. boardroom, the atmosphere was tense. Behind Warner Biggereturne III, the company president, the chart on the electronic whiteboard said it all: wine division sales had dropped for the third consecutive quarter. Worse... Read more
14th Jun 2013
Wine's whistle blowers
by Tim Atkin
Traitor or patriot? Whistleblower or scoundrel? Depending on your point of view, Edward Snowden, the man behind the recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s surveillance techniques, is either a hero or a villain. Whatever you... Read more
3rd Jun 2013
How to Throw a Perfect Home Wine Tasting
by Ron Washam
More often than not, when I attend a wine tasting at a private home it’s disastrous. And not just because I was invited. A wine tasting seems like an easy affair, like oral sex with a Washington intern. Yet, without proper planning, your home... Read more
3rd Jun 2013
Meet the Osborns
by Tim Atkin
There can’t be many world-famous wineries founded by teetotalers, but d’Arenberg in McLaren Vale is one of them. Despite working in the industry as company secretary at Thomas Hardy & Sons for 30 years, Joseph Osborn hadn’t touched a... Read more
31st May 2013
Looking for the BrewDog of wine
by Tim Atkin
How conservative is the wine business? Less than it once was is the obvious answer, at least in the UK. When I started writing about the subject in the mid-1980s, a pin striped suit and tie were de rigueur at tastings, and that was just for the... Read more
20th May 2013
In a parallel universe
by Robert Joseph
In a parallel universe 1 (in which there is an Empress of Wine.) The most... Read more
19th May 2013
The London Wine Fair: time to move
by Tim Atkin
When the London International Wine Fair closes its doors at ExCel next Wednesday evening it will mark the end of a short and not particularly distinguished era in the show’s 33-year history. The 13 events out east have been unlucky for many... Read more
6th May 2013
Better Off Dead—New Wine Books!
by Ron Washam
Lately, my mailbox has been filling up with new books about wine and the wine business. It’s a seemingly inexhaustible subject, and the flurry of new books represents a wide range of subject matter. Nearly all of these new books are... Read more
3rd May 2013
Music and wine: classically trained
by Tim Atkin
Stroll through the vineyards at Il Paradiso di Frassina in Montalcino and the sound of Mozart soothes your ears. If you like Beethoven, Bach or Boulez, not to mention Miles Davis, Madonna or Motörhead, you will be disappointed. Musical variety... Read more
19th Apr 2013
Getting warmer: wine and climate change
by Tim Atkin
Moaning about the weather is practically a national sport in England. There’s a bit of me that thinks that we enjoy being grumpy, “coveting disappointment” as the comedian Bill Bailey once put it. And yet the last 12 months have been... Read more