Highlights Archives - Page 4 of 25 - Circle of Wine Writers

Cherishing a Cape classic and more

Posted on May 28, 2024May 31, 2024 by Colin Harkness

Colin Harkness calls in on Klien Constantia, meets winemaker Matt Day, himself fresh from fixing the date for the start of the harvest, and savours the sumptuously sweet Vin de Constance, dry Sauvignon Blancs and a red from Stellenbosch. Jane Austen is in some rather A-List company when she mentions the luscious dessert wine, Vin de Constance, from Klien Constantia Wine Farm, near Cape Town, Sout...

Reuse rather than recycle — the greener bottle solution

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Liz Sagues

Liz Sagues summarises the learnings and challenges presented in the recent Let's talk about... webinar, featuring three members of Porto Protocol — Diana Snowden Seysses, Marta Mendonça and Muriel Chatel, and moderated by L.M. Archer. Is it idealistic fantasy that the wine bottle you're pouring from now could, over months or years to come, be refilled again and again rather than ending up in a ...

Prosecco: what’s in a name?

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Marc Millon

Marc Millon rediscovers the joys of the now hugely famous sparkling DOCG that hails from hills that lie between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. He encounters such complexity of terroir that different sub-zones and even single vineyards can express their own characters and personalities. I first visited the wine hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene more than 40 years ago in search of a wine I’...

The wines of Cyprus: Circle of Wine Writers trip report 2024

Posted on March 28, 2024March 28, 2024 by Amanda Barnes

This month our edition is dedicated to the Circle’s trip to Cyprus and we hand over to members to report on their highlights while exploring this Mediterranean wine island in February 2024. Christine Austin sets the scene with the first visit of the trip, sharing intriguing nuggets of information on the Cyprus wine culture and history (did you know phylloxera never arrived to the island? You will...

Meet the Member: Paula Redes Sidore

Posted on February 28, 2024February 28, 2024 by Paula Redes Sidore

Paula Redes Sidore is best known for her work communicating the wines of Germany although, as Amanda Barnes discovers in this interview, her journey in wine started with a few inconspicuous drops of White Zin. Paula also shares what wines and styles are enticing her at the moment, and why she decided to launch TRINK —the world's first English-language magazine focused on the ‘German-speaking wines...

Spectacular Temecula can do good wine too

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Becky Sue Epstein

Next time you’ve got an extra couple of days in Los Angeles or San Diego, Becky Sue Epstein recommends a visit to the Southern California wine region, which she recently visited after a long absence and found the wines are a changing for the good. If wine grapes have been grown in California’s Temecula Valley since the 1820s, why are we only hearing about it now? And what are the wines like? Tha...

Mountain magician

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Kathleen Burk

Kathleen Burk meets and eats extremely well with Chris Carpenter, who crafts finely chiselled Chardonnays and reds from above the fog line in Napa, and much more, also for Jackson Family Wines, such as making wine in Walla Walla Valley and McLaren Vale. The quality of the lunch at Kerridge’s Bar and Grill in London was a delicious bonus when I accepted an invitation to attend a lunchtime tasting...

A green bottle start to the Let’s talk about… year

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Liz Sagues

Liz Sagues shares details on what members can look forward to in the first Let's talk about... sessions for this calendar year. She also looks back at Jancis Robinson MW's hotly-attended session on the importance of bottle weights, which kicked off the year's talks in early January, as well as Randy Caparoso's recent session on the old vines of Lodi. Such is Jancis Robinson's determination to pro...

A rebel among the hills

Posted on December 31, 2023December 31, 2023 by Caroline Gilby MW

Caroline Gilby MW revels in Rebula, the golden grape that encapsulates the terroir of Brda/Collio and appears to be coping well with challenges of climate change. Somehow, I seem to have become a bit of an evangelist for obscure grapes from Central and Eastern Europe, and one of my favourites is the golden grape called Rebula in Slovenia and Ribolla Gialla in Italy. A recent trip to the Brda Home...

Advances in Armenian fizz well worth the wait

Posted on December 31, 2023December 31, 2023 by L.M Archer

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