Features Archives - Circle of Wine Writers

Chinese wine condensed

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Janet Wang

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How Satake shaped sake

Posted on October 31, 2025 by William F. O’Connor

William F. O’Connor polishes up our knowledge on the company that made wine-like sake possible. What is the original alcoholic beverage of Japan? Is this a simple question that the vast majority of people are likely to answer correctly? Well, suspicious readers will have accurately guessed that the rhetorical question posed above suggests that the answer is not sake, or nihon-shu. It just has to...

“Wine lit something up inside of me that I have never been able to turn off.”

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Tony Harries

Unapologetically British

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Robin Goldsmith

Robin Goldsmith heads on down to Hattingley Valley, where he digs deep to uncover the past, present and future of this Hampshire diamond. Peter Ustinov once famously described English wine as his "idea of hell". Yet, this once laughed-at industry is now the UK's fastest growing agricultural sector and wine tourism is gathering speed, too. Latest figures show that there are 1,104 vineyards in the ...

From the Chair: Curiosity is the Writer’s Currency

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Meg Maker

Circle Chair Meg Maker reflects on how humility and curiosity — not expertise alone — make the finest wine writers. There’s a nonprofit in my town (Lyme, New Hampshire; population 1,730) dedicated to education about the forests of northeastern America. They create materials about forest ecology, conservation, and stewardship, publishing a print quarterly called Northern Woodlands along with a blo...

September’s contrasting Let’s talk about… sessions

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Liz Sagues

Liz Sagues recaps the Let's talk about... sessions of September which looked at the ageability of wines with Kelli White, and a deep dive on the 2025 harvest with select producers from France. The Circle’s two September Let’s talk about… webinars could hardly have been more different: one explored the science of how wine ages, the other examined current challenges — including the 2025 ...

Sicily: Beyond the Volcano

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Robin Goldsmith

Robin Goldsmith explores the Grillo and Nero d'Avola wines of Sicily, beyond the famed volanic region of Etna, while visiting Sicilia En Primeur. A shorter version of this article was originally published by Académie du Vin and the full version is available on The Write Taste. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, covering over 25,000km2. Most of the island is hilly or mount...

From the Chair: “Where should I start?”

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Meg Maker

Circle Chair Meg Maker asks perhaps the most important questions that we all face as a wine writer... Where should I start? I ended my last column with advice to budding wine writers. I said, in essence, that it’s fine but not essential to earn formal wine credentials, because if your primary motive is to share your insights with others, the most important thing is to learn to write, and to pract...

Celebrating half a century of a Canadian champion

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Chuck Buyers

Chuck Buyers immerses himself in the annals of Inniskillin, which this year celebrated its golden anniversary, having initially wowed many with its Vidal Icewine of that very colour, and then with plenty more. Not bad for an idea many once scoffed at. “This cannot work! What a stupid and ridiculous idea! Growing premium vines and – Vinifera to boot – in Ontario? They’ll never get it off the groun...

Review of Champagne: A Global History, 2nd Edition

Posted on September 29, 2025 by Amanda Barnes