Articles
19th Sep 2010
Are wine consumers stupid?
by Tim Atkin
One of my favourite “Yobs” cartoons from Private Eye shows a couple of thugs sitting at a restaurant table. “Great,” says the male skinhead to the sommelier awaiting his verdict on a bottle of wine, “we’ll have one each.” The... Read more
17th Sep 2010
The cult of the winemaker
by Tim Atkin
The death of the Nouvelle Vague film director Claude Chabrol earlier this week has prompted a spate of national mourning in France, with president Sarkozy comparing the great man to Balzac and Rabelais, no less. The French revere their film... Read more
10th Sep 2010
Syrah: New Zealand's other great red
by Tim Atkin
Back in 2007, I was one of a number of journalists who attended New Zealand's first ever Syrah Symposium in Hawke's Bay. It was a bold -- some might say vainglorious - undertaking in a country where the grape of the Rhône and Barossa Valleys... Read more
10th Sep 2010
Jilly G, Gary V and wine TV
by Tim Atkin
Call me a member of an endangered minority, but I still miss Food and Drink, the BBC cookery show that Delia Smith once dubbed "the most disgusting programme on television". I'm not talking about the stilted studio-based format, the earnest,... Read more
2nd Sep 2010
Turning water into wine
by Tim Atkin
Someone once described the BBC as the "least worst" television service in the world, an opinion which remains valid while the licence fee continues to exist. The quote reminded me of a discussion that's taking place in the wine world about... Read more
2nd Sep 2010
Acid trip
by Tim Atkin
"Buy on an apple, sell on a piece of cheese," runs an old wine trade saw. It's good advice for consumers, too. If a wine, especially a red wine, can survive the tart, hard-skinned assault of a slice of Granny Smith, then it must be special.... Read more
26th Aug 2010
In defence of Chardonnay
by Tim Atkin
What's the most insulting thing you can do to a grape? Mixing it with cola, lemonade or tonic water is a slap in the face, but the lowest of low blows is surely to confuse it with a sultana. That's what some of the biggest wine companies Down... Read more
19th Aug 2010
Sherry: the world's greatest fortified wine
by Tim Atkin
It's the first rule of pessimism that when things are bad they invariably get worse. Just ask Sarah Ferguson or the nine Sherry bodegas who were recently fined E6.7m by Spain's National Competition Commission. At a time when the region is... Read more
19th Aug 2010
2009 Bordeaux en primeur: will the bubble burst?
by Tim Atkin
A friend who works for a City hedge fund calls it "the taxi driver moment". His theory is that when London cabbies start talking about a guaranteed way to make a fast buck -- other than switching on their meters after midnight -- investors... Read more
13th Aug 2010
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, who combines his talents as a winemaker with a flair for... Read more