New Wine Writing Awards: Bumper crop of CWW winners

Wink Lorch reports back from the inaugural 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicators Awards, in which members took home a clutch of awards and nominations.  Friday September 6th at midday saw a glittering collection of wine communicators and trade gather at St John’s, Smith Square also known as the Sinfonia Smith Square, in Westminster, London. We were there for the inaugural gala awards ceremony fo...
Read More

Tasting history

Dominic Buckwell raids his own cellar and pours his collection of Château-Grillet wines to a prestigious and appreciative panel, to mark the launch of Liberation Tardive, a new not-for-profit organization that seeks to ensure the market delivers available stocks of older wines. How does it feel to taste something from history? A tiny appellation in Northern Rhône, with Roman origins acclaimed by ...
Read More

A summer pause and reflection on Let’s talk about…

Summer has brought a brief break in the Circle's Let's talk about... online seminars, but they will be back again very soon, says Liz Sagues.  On 3rd September, Alder Yarrow launches the autumn-winter programme with session number 106 as he takes us behind the scenes at the Old Vine Registry, the world’s first and most authoritative database of old vine vineyards around the globe.  Alder, pionee...
Read More

The soaring story of Etna and Contrade dell’Etna

Michèle Shah attends the 15th edition of the Contrade dell'Etna, which has developed exponentially since it started as a convivial gathering of local winemakers. In tandem, she describes the remarkable re-emergence of Etna’s elegantly energetic wines. In 2008, Andrea Franchetti, a visionary and eclectic wine pioneer — owner of the Passopisciaro estate on Etna and Tenuta di Trinoro in Tuscany — ig...
Read More

Awe-inspiring Amarone

Filippo Magnani finds himself revelling in the new releases of Valpolicella’s finest and shares his top tips both on what to taste and where to stay. The Amarone Opera Prima took place this year on 4th and 5th February, majestically organized by the Valpolicella Wine Consortium, at the Gran Guardia Palace in the heart of Verona. The president of the consortium, Christian Marchesini, opened the ev...
Read More

Rounding up the latest Wine Society offerings

wine society tasting
To access this post, you must purchase Friend of the Circle (inc one-off joining fee), Corporate Friend of the Circle (inc one-off joining fee), Friend of the Circle (renewals) or Corporate Friend of the Circle (renewals), or log in.
Read More

A Circle Party to remember

To access this post, you must purchase Friend of the Circle (inc one-off joining fee), Corporate Friend of the Circle (inc one-off joining fee), Friend of the Circle (renewals) or Corporate Friend of the Circle (renewals), or log in.
Read More

Peter and Susie’s Wine Festival Winchester moves online

Peter Richards MW and Susie Barrie MW are inviting members to join in their annual Wine Festival Winchester, which this year is going online! Taking place on Saturday 28th November, the day is packed with delicious online wine masterclasses curated via the festival’s website www.thewinefestival.co.uk "We’ve taken our Wine Festival Winchester online, in the spirit of positivity – trying to su...
Read More

Let’s talk about self-publishing

To access this post, you must purchase Friend of the Circle (inc one-off joining fee), Corporate Friend of the Circle (inc one-off joining fee), Friend of the Circle (renewals) or Corporate Friend of the Circle (renewals), or log in.
Read More

Welcome to the world of lockdown wine webinars

Liz Sagues discovers how despite lockdown the wine world still keeps spinning, bringing producers and writers together via a new format of wine tasting and seminar: the wine webinar. She recaps some of her highlights from last month, including the Circle's own series 'Let's talk about...' Spring in Sussex was, for me, due to be punctuated by wine trips to Portugal and the Loire Valley. Of course,...
Read More