Images of Rochegude

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Images of Roaix

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Images of Vaison-la-Romaine and Puyméras

Images of Vaison-la-Romaine

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Images of Gigondas

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Images of Laudun and Chusclan

Côtes-du-Rhône Villages Laudun   Read More

Images of Sablet and Plan de Dieu

Images of Sablet  

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Images of Valréas and Visan

Images of Valréas

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Eccentric current

English sparkling wine producers collectively present a terribly well-to-do appearance, all smart…

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Undeniable class

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Flower power

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The perfect 8/10 vintage

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Some Ventoux 2016s – and a few good value supermarket Rhônes

If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you’ll know that I write an annual report on the wines of…

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Floral testimony

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Great Red Hope: New Zealand Pinot Noir

Here's an article that I wrote for Imbibe (drinks trade magazine) on New Zealand Pinot Noir...

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The winelover’s secret map

Standing…

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Coming of age

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My first week in New Zealand

Sunday 29th January

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A travel guide to the Northern Rhône

As you may have gathered by now, I have a bit of a soft spot for the Rhône. I spend more and more…

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2015 Rhône: my week in the South

I’m currently in the Rhône researching my annual report for timatkin.com; this will be the fifth…

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The Gold Standard

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Beefed-up beef

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Breathable drinks

Alcoholic…</p><p class=Read More

A Rhône diary – week 1

Sunday 25th October

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Three recent Decanter articles

I've been writing a fair few pieces for Decanter magazine recently, covering my three favourite…

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Lidl Wine Cellar magazine: how many?!

Six million copies. Six meeeeeeeellion copies. That’s the print run of the Lidl Wine Cellar…

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Introducing the Mr Vine Tasting Panel

Yesterday saw the launch of a new wine app: it’s called Mr Vine.

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Braver New World

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Split infinity

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Bandol: Here be giants

   

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London wine bars – what you need to know

Decanter asked me to write a piece on London wine bars, it's in the current issue (November 2014),…

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Decanter article: The New World of the Northern Rhône

I contributed an article to the recent Decanter Rhône Special (July 2014 issue) on Crozes-Hermitage…

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Early drinking

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Digging Graves

A quick intro to Graves... Every year, the two titans of Bordeaux – the Left Bank and Right Bank –…

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Recent articles: 2012 Rhône Report, White Rhône, New World wines and food

Here are links to three recent articles I've written that appear elsewhere on the web. Firstly, for…

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Minervois: press rehearsal

A brief intro to Minervois... Underneath the glowering Montagne Noire, due east of Carcassonne,…

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Contemporary drinking

Here's a link to a piece I wrote for The Wine Society's newsletter on changing attitudes to…

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Cold Rush

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Wine Buying Options Part 2: Supplementary channels

Yesterday we looked at the three primary channels for commercial wine buying in the UK:…

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Wine Buying Options Part 1: Wholesalers, Agents, Direct to Producer

Here's a recent article I wrote for wrote for trade magazine Harpers Wine & Spirit on…

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No place like Beaune

A brief introduction to the wines of Beaune... If you’re new to Burgundy, the handsome city of…

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Castillon: cast iron bargains

A brief introduction to the wines of Castillon... In terms of both reputation and prices Bordeaux…

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No grannies allowed: proper sherry

Here's a link to an article I wrote on the rise of proper sherry for Imbibe magazine:…

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Wedding wines – bling vs. bargain

When planning the wines for your wedding, sometimes it pays to look beyond the big names if you…

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Vouvray: a class act

A brief introduction to Vouvray... The celebrity grape of the Loire Valley is Sauvignon Blanc.…

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London’s wine scene: a tale of two cities

Considering its total lack of vineyards, London's long-established position in the wine world might…

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Perfectly formed: the art of the short restaurant wine list

Many wine lists start out like ornate market gardens, with everything neatly laid out in sections…

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Confessions of an English Condrieu drinker

A short introduction to Condrieu... There are few wines as wantonly hedonistic as Condrieu. It’s…

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Médoc: Reassuringly expensive

A quick intro to the wines of the Médoc... It not just the owners of Tarmac who have made a fortune…

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We’re all going on a summer holiday… diary of a #frenchwinetrip

Saturday 1st June Day 8, homeward bound. After an enlightening, exhausting and thoroughly…

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Chablis: Ice queen

A brief introduction to the wines of Chablis... You’d have trouble making drinkable wine further…

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Gevrey-Chambertin: Deep Burgundy

A brief introduction to the wines of Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy… With over 600 vineyards across…

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Bottles of paradise

A brief introduction to the wines of Corsica... In Corsica, the regional wine is designated ‘Vin de…

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Hermitage: Hidden Dragon

A brief introduction to the wines of Hermitage... Some of the most eminent winemaking villages of…

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Champagne: the smallest stars shine the brightest

A brief introduction to the wines of Champagne... Most of us have a favourite Champagne, the label…

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Thinking outside the shop

Some interesting things have been happening to the wine shop over the past few years. Evolutionary…

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Alsace: snow whites

Alsace has a split personality. Tucked behind the Vosges mountains in north eastern France, this…

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Christmas wines – which wine for which roast

I wonder what Scrooge’s idea of the perfect Christmas lunch would be? Roast pauper with all the…

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The young tearaway of the south

Named after the local Occitan dialect (langue d’oc), the Languedoc is a huge swathe of land running…

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A sketch of four German wine regions

I went over to Germany a few weeks ago to get a feel for the different regions and what was…

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Beaujolais – beau et joli

Take a gentle walk around the diminutive Beaujolais region in eastern France and you can’t fail to…

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Champagne: where the party’s really at

Sometimes I feel very lucky to be living in the UK when it comes to getting hold of good wine.…

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The Grape Day Calendar

It all started a few years ago with Cabernet Day. So far in 2012 we’ve seen Carignan Day (29th…

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Start drinking Furmint

To be sung to the tune of ‘Start Wearing Purple’ by Gogol Bordello:   “Start drinking Furmint…

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What the wine trade could learn from natural wines

“Wine’s not my kind of thing… it’s a bit, well, posh.” “It’s too complicated, I don’t understand…

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St Emilion: Liquid Luxury

St Emilion, in a nutshell: first published in Living France magazine, but this is longer. For many,…

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Wine Sampling Session: Internet Face Off

If you buy the weekend newspapers you’re bound to see promotions from time to time for cases of…

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Naked Wines – should you redeem that voucher?

Everyone loves a bargain. And there’s one little offer that keeps catching my eye – a voucher for…

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Slovenia: Cracking wines

Driving across Slovenia doesn’t take long. About three hours from one corner to the other; it’s…

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How to organise a wine tasting

When you arrange to meet your mates for an evening down the pub, no-one calls it a ‘beer tasting’,…

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Sherry: Collision Course

Last week I posted a crash course on sherry. Sherry is a relic, a throwback from an earlier age of…

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See you later Prometheus, here’s the trailer to Drink Me!

A couple of weeks ago we filmed a trailer for my new book, Drink Me. The idea behind it is to give…

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Sherry: Crash Course

Who knew squid testicles could be so delicious? More to the point, which lunatic tried cooking with…

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How to choose the wine for your wedding

When it comes to buying wine, if there’s one time you need to get maximum bang for buck it’s when…

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Describing grape varieties: white grapes

Last week I tried to describe the character of the most common red grape varieties; party by…

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Describing grape varieties: red grapes

Right, just a bit of fun this week. If there’s one good way of trying to guess what the wine in a…

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When I hear ‘cult wine’ I reach for my revolver

I was walking around the recent Annual California Wine Tasting in London the other day and one…

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The most widely planted grape in Japan: Koshu

It’s not every day I have the excuse to start a blog post with a haiku, but I do today, so here…

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Dudley & de Fleury Wines: “it’s easy to fall in love with Fanny”

It has clearly been a hectic few months for the two Richards, Dudley and de Fleury. Operating for…

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Austrian reds: don’t laugh

Supplier: “Hello Matt, what would you like to taste?” Me: “The St Laurent – I’m just tasting St…

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The Art of Spitting

If you go to a lot of wine tastings, it’s easy to forget just how strange the whole spitting thing…

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Oregon: Stunning Pinot Noir, suspect Pinot Gris

The most expensive bottle of wine I ever bought was a Pinot Noir. A Burgundy from a great vineyard,…

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Mr Lawrence’s: a quietly inspiring wine merchant in southeast London

Sitting down, I ask Mr Lawrence to describe what Brockley was like when he first opened his wine…

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En primeur: How to taste unfinished wines

As months go, we all know that January is a tedious windbag. But what it does have going for it is…

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New Cru: the cream of the Languedoc

Powerful words, ‘Grand Cru’. Referring to a wine or a vineyard of the highest quality, this tiny…

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Carignan the Barbarian

The Trailer (1982) For centuries, the gentle giant wandered carefree amongst the foothills and the…

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Yes, THAT Lebanon

Some countries are on the fringes of wine production, and Lebanon is certainly one of them. Most…

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Why there has never been a better time to get into wine – or Does Decanter magazine make you blush?

There was one magazine above all that I found embarrassing to buy as a student. I used to…

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Wine Drinking No. 2: Biodynamic vs. Conventional, this time in Manchester

Last Friday, I made my way from a foggy London up to Manchester by train with a clinking suitcase…

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Wine Drinking No. 1: Biodynamic vs. Conventional

A week ago, a bunch of us got together with the intention of opening a load of bottles. I prefer to…

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Corison: elegant, drinkable, remarkable

For a producer with a well established, albeit understated, reputation, we were surprised to find…

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Wine Rack: Back to the Future

Unwins; deceased. Threshers; defunct. Victoria Wine; departed. The era of the off-licence chain is…

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Lea & Sandeman: Classic but up-to-date

Charles Lea and Patrick Sandeman set up their first shop 23 years ago, and now they have four, all…

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Tesco Wine Fair: the good, the bad and the ugly

I’m not going to lie to you. The masochist in me just couldn’t wait to go to the Tesco Wine Fair.…

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The future of wine packaging part 2: Bag-in-box, bang up-to-date

In yesterday's post, I mentioned a company called Sfuso who supply a couple of the shops in London…

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The future of wine packaging part 1: None at all

I took a stroll down Amwell Street in Islington a couple of days ago and discovered a rather…

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Majestic Wine Warehouses: Last man standing

There have been a lot of changes on the high street over the past few years when it comes to buying…

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Why Californian wine is so expensive in the UK

It’s easy to forget how new California is to making wine. Whilst in Napa Valley last month, I had…

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Waitrose: Still the best supermarket for wine

This year Waitrose have won all four major drinks awards for ‘Supermarket of the Year’…

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The Wine Society: Impressive value

In a world of Enomatic machines, crowd sourcing and Twitter fire-sales, The International…

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New trends in California: Moscato and Primitivo

White Zinfandel is dead. Long live Moscato! It is ubiquitous, and uniformly awful. It tends to have…

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