Category Archives: Wine Business

Prosecco – Should Champagne Worry?

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Tim Hall

My plumber, upside down with a spanner under the kitchen sink, got it right last week: ‘That Pissecho’s good stuff – all the girls love it and I don’t have to stack out a big wad for la-di-da champagne! So … Continue reading →

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Planet Wine 2013: What’s Hot, What’s Not

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Tim Hall

Last year in this piece, I poured some wine over a crystal ball.  I think all those points still stand up.  The depressing thing is so little seems to have happened, at least in the UK wine arena I know best.  The … Continue reading →

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Chateau Crap – Is 90% of UK Wine That Bad?

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Tim Hall

’90% of all wine is crap,’ wrote Jamie Goode, a leading and highly respected wine critic in the UK on his blog recently.  He has a column in a national paper and has written several books.  It seems a brave … Continue reading →

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Lot 18 Lack Bottle

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Tim Hall

Yesterday Lot 18 the US-based online wine outfit launched in the UK back in March, closed its short lived UK operation down. Not a bottle left to sell. They blamed the supermarkets here, as easy as David having a go … Continue reading →

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Planet Wine 2012 – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Tim Hall

January 1st may be an arbitrary date to assess the state of Planet Wine but with wine under pressure from global recession in 2012, any time may be good for those who love wine to think about and discuss it more.  Here are my 10 … Continue reading →

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Death in Champagne

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Tim Hall

It’s not often I write an obituary for a champagne.  Some might argue there are plenty of champagnes that could head for the exit and not harm the future of civilisation one bit, might even do it a favour.  But … Continue reading →

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Argentina – Seaching for Syrah

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Tim Hall

To sell well in Europe, far flung places need a strong and attractive national identity which gives a ‘halo’ effect to each wine they make.  On the face of it, Argentina should do well in the identity stakes.  The 2001 economic collapse is … Continue reading →

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English Wine Part 2: Babel Over a Label – the Fuss About Naming English Fizz

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Tim Hall

Part 1 of this two-piece blog, here, looked at what’s behind the recent big move to sparkling wine in England.  In Part 2 we wonder what to call it. Apart from the rather boring mouthful ’Quality English Sparkling Wine’, what shall we call English … Continue reading →

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English Wine Part 1: Lees is more: The Turn to Fizz

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Tim Hall

I vividly remember a visit in 1997 to 65 acre Chiddingstone Vineyards in Kent, now defunct several years. As the engaging and now late Dudley Quirk fried sausages for lunch I told him what I thought of the Chiddingstone wines … Continue reading →

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