Meet the Friend Archives - Circle of Wine Writers

Meet the Friend: Sam Linter, Wine GB

Posted on July 5, 2020July 8, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Sam Linter, Managing Director & Head Winemaker for Bolney Wine Estate.

Sam Linter is a second-generation winemaker at her family vineyard and winery, Bolney Wine Estate, which was established in West Sussex, in the South Downs, by her parents, in 1972. Since 2019, she has been a director of Wine GB, responsible for helping drive British wine forward in both the local and export markets. Amanda Barnes interviews her about her own experiences as an English winegrower a...

Meet the Member: Magnus Reuterdahl

Posted on June 4, 2020June 8, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Magnus Reuterdahl is a leading wine blogger and writer in Sweden. Amanda Barnes interviews him to find out more about how he transitioned from being a real-life Indiana Jones to a bonafide #winelover How did you first discover a passion for wine? My interest in wine started in the 90s but it was in the early 2000s it really took off with the rise of wine blogging. I started my first wine b...

Meet the Friend: Jo Wehring

Posted on June 4, 2020June 8, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Jo Wehring is best known as the UK market manager for Wines of South Africa, where she has witnessed an incredible change in the South African wine scene as Amanda Barnes finds out in their interview. How did you first get into wine? While at university, I worked part-time in Victoria Wines and I began to get interested in the world of wine. Once I graduated, with a degree in Art History & P...

Meet the Friend: Chris Stroud, NZ Winegrowers

Posted on May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Chris Stroud is European Marketing Manager for the New Zealand Winegrowers, a Friend of the Circle and the generous supporters of our Christmas Party last year. Amanda Barnes interviews him to find out how growers and producers in New Zealand are coping with Coronavirus, and what will be the first thing he does post-lockdown! What brought you into the wine industry? I studied Spani...

Meet the Friend: Angela Muir MW

Posted on March 30, 2020March 31, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Angela Muir MW has been working in the wine trade since 1970, right from her first job on leaving Bristol University. Ten years later she became a Master of Wine, in fact one of the first female MWs, and has been a respected consultant to wine producers and companies ever since, establishing her own consultancy company, Cellarworld, in 1993. Amanda Barnes interviews her about her experience in the...

Meet the Friend: Nicky Forrest, Phipps

Posted on March 10, 2020March 14, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Nicky Forrest's love for wine has brought her not only into the world of wine PR but into the vineyard as a grower too, as Amanda Barnes learns in this interview. As MD of Phipps, Nicky has worked on several landmark campaigns for wine brands and producers and she shares some of her experiences in the drinks business. What are your earliest memories in wine? My first memories are from the late ...

A taste of Les 110 de Taillevent & Christopher Lecoufle

Posted on February 4, 2020February 7, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

Christopher Lecoufle is the Head Sommelier for Les 110 de Taillevent, a wine-focused restaurant which offers a benefit to Circle members and plenty of benefits to any wine lover as Amanda Barnes discovers on a visit there. There are restaurants that serve wine, and then there are wine restaurants. Les 110 de Taillevent is definitely one of the latter. Even the name plays on the importance of win...

Meet the Friend: Maria Laura Ortiz (Winifera)

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Amanda Barnes

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Meet the Member: Wink Lorch

Posted on December 11, 2019December 11, 2019 by Amanda Barnes

Wink Lorch is known to many in the Circle, having served as Editor of the Circle Update from 2015 until 2017 and been a member since the early 90s, but she has also become one of the foremost writers on wines from the Jura (writing the crowd-funded Jura Wine, published in 2014). Her latest venture has been authoring Wines of the French Alps: Savoie, Bugey and beyond which was published at the end ...

Meet the Friend: Richard Lane

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Amanda Barnes

Richard Lane is a Friend of the Circle and writes for a medical journal by day, but is a wine enthusiast by night and became the world's first blind WSET Diploma student last year. Amanda Barnes interviews him about his experiences in studying wine without vision, as well as finding out his pet peeves about reading wine writing as a visually impaired reader. Richard also shares his favourite wines...