Highlights

Are we all subconscious marketers? Meg Maker poses the question in her column this month.  Making fun of wine tasting notes is not a new sport; recall Thurber’s 1937 cartoon about the “naïve domestic Burgundy.” But academic research about wine tasting notes is much newer, and it’s being done not only by linguists but also by mathematicians, economists, statisticians, and AI modelers.  Such quant...

Liz Sagues, along with a bevy of other experienced communicators and sommeliers, participates in a fascinating tasting hosted by fellow CWW member Tim Atkin MW and Ventisquero winemaker Felipe Tosso, with a scientist also on hand, to explore whether Chilean terroir can in fact be tasted.  Is terroir tosh? That, essentially, was the question at 67 Pall Mall in London on 21st November. More specifi...

Circle Chair Meg Maker ponders on what it means to be a 'wine writer' today, in an increasingly challenging professional environment. The Circle is a guild of professionals who’ve earned the moniker ‘wine writer.’ That writing may appear in the form of article, blog, or book, or may be in service of podcast, broadcast, social post, lecture, or curriculum. (And yes, we do have photographers; they ...

Liz Sagues discovers once-abandoned grape varieties from south-west France and sees their new and growing importance in mitigating the climate crisis. For too long, south-west France has been in the shadows when there's discussion on indigenous grape varieties. But with ever-increasing recognition of the effects of the climate crisis, there is new focus on a region with a unique vine heritage. An...

Dijana Grgić calls in on Kutjevo, the Croatian heartland of the grape variety that has nothing to do with Riesling, as well as the neighbouring strongholds of Pakrac and Požega-Pleternica, and also takes the Rose and Wine Road.   Požega-Slavonia County is home to three notable sub-regions and is the home of Croatia's most important white wine variety, Graševina. The vineyards of Kutjevo, Po...