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The Mythology of Etna
Perusing Planeta’s broad and colourful palette of Sicilian wines
Robert Smyth takes a tour through Sicily’s wine regions while visiting Planeta, a prolific producer with vines and wines spanning the large Italian island.
After having long enjoyed Planeta’s wines from afar, it was a wonderful to finally get the opportunity to visit them in Sicily, and also catch up with their Hungarian winemaker Patricia Tóth.
Driving up the winding roads to Planeta’s winery ...
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Age like a fine rośe
Libertation Tardive, in tandem with renowned rosé expert and Circle-member Liz Gabay MW, take a deep dive into the question of how well refined rośe can age. Dominic Buckwell, a co-founder of the aforementioned organisation, whose mantra is “Great wines take time”, and also a Circle-member, reports.
In October 2025, the not-for-profit organisation called Liberation Tardive, co-founded by myself, ...
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Old vine time is nigh
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All change in Alsace
Sue Eames scopes and scans Alsatian soils, studying how the different grapes varieties perform in them, and also senses the strong shift to organic and biodynamic farming.
Back in March, I was lucky enough to be invited on the Association of Wine Educators’ visit to Alsace, and found it be a region that has changed dramatically since when I last visited in 2022. We learnt so much about how the di...
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All hail Acadie Blanc
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Shared expressions of the Turbiana grape
From the southern shores of Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake, Robin Goldsmith loads up on Lugana and savours a tantalising trio of tannins, acidity and salinity, served up with freshness and clarity. A version of this article was originally published on The Write Taste.
Lugana DOC, which encompasses five municipalities, lies on the southern shores of Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy. It's on...
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New Member: Allison Sheardy
Allison Sheardy’s wine career began a decade ago, born from a lifetime love of food and fine dining that evolved to encompass wine as well.
She has mainly worked in the hospitality sector of the industry, creating a niche for herself working for boutique, family-owned wineries in unique wine regions around the United States (Texas Hill Country, historic Livermore, CA, and now Minnesota). Alliso...
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New Member: Emma Dalton
Emma Dalton is a multilingual fine wine, sake and spirits consultant with over 20 years of experience.
Currently an MW student, she was awarded the Cálem Port Scholarship for her performance in WSET Diploma in Wines and Spirits.
She works internationally, specialising in providing bespoke consultancy services including masterclasses, wine dinners, written reports and photojournalism. She judges ...
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Chinese wine condensed
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