Features Archives - Circle of Wine Writers

Doing the wine math: Review of Grape Explications by Neal D. Hulkower

Posted on July 30, 2025 by Sunny Hodge

Sunny Hodge reviews a kind of ‘best of’ Neal D. Hulkower, whose works span a vast range of vinous topics, incorporating his expert application of the world of mathematics to that of the vine. For those of you not yet familiar with Hulkower’s writing, he has been a prudent book reviewer, essayist, wine journalist and efficacious tasting-note-taker since his fixation with wine first took grip in 19...

The vinous Velvet Revolution

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Jochen Erler

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From the Chair: The trap of linguistic tropes

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Meg Maker

While attending a new Pinot Noir symposium in Oxford, Meg Maker considers the trap of repeating cliches. I’ve just returned from Oxford University, where I participated in the inaugural Pinot Noir and Identity Symposium. The event, a culmination of four years’ work by the organising committee, convened academics, independent researchers, and passionate wine advocates for three days of discussion...

A bodega to remember

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Colin Harkness

Colin Harkness encounters classy, memorable kosher wines from the mountains of DO Utiel-Requena. I expect it’s largely the same with most ‘Old World’ wines, but when it comes to Spain, there’s almost always a story behind each wine and every producer. Like some grape varieties, sadly, several of these tales might have been lost in the mists of time, but some, against all odds, are enduring. And t...

From the land to the label

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Wendy Narby

Identity theft and loss in the Spanish wine world

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Colin Harkness

The rising white wine wave of the southern Rhône

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Heather Dougherty

Expected and unexpected: The Wines of California by Elaine Chukan Brown

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Becky Sue Epstein

Becky Sue Epstein reviews Elaine Chukan Brown’s acclaimed new guide, The Wines of California. You may not get exactly what you expected when you open The Wines of California, a new encyclopaedic work by well-known wine expert Elaine Chukan Brown. And that’s a good thing. Before diving into details of grapes, climate, geography, and regions, Brown begins the conversation with several centuries of...

From the Chair: Considering criticism

Posted on June 22, 2025June 24, 2025 by Meg Maker

This month Meg Maker examines whether a wine communicator can ever really be objectively critical. I enjoy reading criticism of books, art, cinema, and architecture. As a writer who does some wine criticism, I find it instructive to see how critics from other domains approach the exercise. I was particularly struck by a recent New Yorker piece, an essay by Julian Lucas reflecting on the critic ...

The long and winding wine road: Wines of the Loire Valley by Beverley Blanning MW

Posted on June 22, 2025June 22, 2025 by Robert Smyth

Robert Smyth reviews the new tome on the wines of the Loire, written by Beverley Blanning MW. The time feels right for a book on the plethora of wines that are made alongside and in the vicinity of the courses of France’s longest river. Indeed, The Wines of the Loire Valley by Beverly Blanning MW arrives at a time when this once unfashionable backwater of the wine world has once again become firm...