Editor's Comment Archives - Circle of Wine Writers

VIVANT: Livening up the online wine stream scene

Posted on January 11, 2021January 11, 2021 by Amanda Barnes

Amanda Barnes gets a taste of the future with VIVANT's new wine streaming platform. I thought that perhaps last year we’d seen all the ways to do a virtual wine experience, but I was definitely wrong. My last virtual wine tasting in 2020 was one which will no doubt be relevant, memorable and exciting throughout 2021 and beyond the Covid era. VIVANT is a new wine education streaming platform launc...

Musings on Malta

Posted on January 10, 2021January 12, 2021 by Amanda Barnes

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Georgia on my laptop

Posted on December 13, 2020December 16, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Amanda Barnes takes off on a virtual tour of Georgia and its wines, made from an impressive inventory of indigenous grape varieties. I have a friend who always sees the bright side of life. It sounds rather trite to describe someone this way, but I don’t know anyone quite as capable as finding the silver lining as her. During lockdown (Lockdown 1, in April), instead of getting rather depressed ...

Imprinting Petit Verdot on the wines of Bordeaux

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Taking stock of an exceptional vintage in New Zealand with Cloudy Bay

Posted on November 10, 2020November 12, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Taking bubbles to the dark side

Posted on October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Amanda Barnes finds a Slovenian sparkler that has remained untouched by light from picking to palate, while attending the funkiest of fizzy launches. Wine launches are always a tough one to make interesting, especially during Covid times, when you can’t easily organise a big soirée. Radgonske Gorice’s wine launch last month was, however, perfectly interesting. A simple premise perhaps — a sample...

A whirlwind tour of Chile’s varying valleys and trailblazing tendencies

Posted on September 9, 2020September 9, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

TerraNoble’s quest for terroir Carmenère

Posted on August 8, 2020August 12, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Château de Pommard: trailblazing a way into the brave new wine world

Posted on July 5, 2020July 6, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

From the comfort of home, Amanda Barnes gets to taste the latest releases of the 300-year-old Burgundy winery and to learn about how despite being highly tech savvy, it is lo-fi in the vineyards and well on the road to becoming certified biodynamic. We’ve all had the age-old argument about whether wine is more about art or science, but how much of it is tech? In today’s fast-moving world, the im...

Zooming in on coastal Chilean Pinot Noir

Posted on June 4, 2020June 10, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Amanda Barnes gets to grips with three different coastal terroirs in Chile that Viña Ventisquero is producing Pinot Noir in, with a special Zoom tasting with the winemaker Alejandro Galaz during the time of Coronavirus. Originally published on SouthAmericaWineGuide.com “Pinot Noir without terroir is the most boring variety you can taste”, says Chilean winemaker Alejandro Galaz, paraphrasing a win...