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Posted on by Robin Goldsmith

Launching Laurent-Perrier’s new iteration

Posted on by Robin Goldsmith
Robin Goldsmith attends a special gala dinner in the splendour of Kensington Palace Orangery to celebrate the release of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Iteration N°27, and shares his experience of a rather envy-inducing soirée. The royal setting within the Kensington Palace Estate, official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, was particularly pertinent. In May 2024, Laurent-Perrie...
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Members’ Voices: How are you using AI, or not, in your wine communication?

Posted on by Amanda Barnes
From editors and journalists to photographers and educators, our members are approaching AI in very different ways. While some have embraced it as a practical tool for organisation and workflow, few are willing to hand over the creative process itself. We asked members how they are using AI, or choosing not to, in their wine communication.   “When I'm wearing my journalist hat, AI can be a ...
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From the Chair: Personal taste

Posted on by Meg Maker
Meg Maker questions what makes wine writers unique in a world of automation and AI in her column and Letter from the Chair. I put off writing this Letter from the Chair. What do I know about AI? I’m not a mathematician or computer scientist. I’m not a technology researcher or academic. I did take a course in graduate school about the philosophy of mind in which I learned about the Turing Test and...
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Tuning in to the tools of the AI trade

Posted on by Per Karlsson
Per and Britt Karlsson already use artificial intelligence quite extensively in their work, but certainly not to write text, nor to create images, which are two of their core vinous activities. So, how do they use AI? Here, Per takes a look at some of the areas where it can come into play. “Do you use AI?” Today, this is no longer really a question. We use AI, everyone uses AI. You cannot refuse ...
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Honing the human touch

Posted on by Simon J Woolf
Simon J Woolf sets out his stall on how wine writers will ultimately survive AI, and even thrive from it. While it will not make us redundant – far from it – we need to work out how it best fits into our workflows, without allowing it to do the writing, which remains our greatest strength, he opines. It takes a brave person to stand up in front of six publishers and ask them whether they would co...
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Let’s talk about… Keeping afloat?

Posted on by Helen Savage
In our online Circular seminar on the crisis facing French vignerons, Helen Savage, sets the scene by showing the seriousness of La crise viticole, before concentrating on case studies on how three wineries are faring. A highlight of the session is Helen’s interview with Fanny Rey of Domaine des Graves d’Ardonneau, who left the prospect of a career as an opera singer behind to return to a family w...
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How AI is advancing ampelography

Posted on by Dr José Vouillamoz
From DNA to data, artificial intelligence is beginning to read the vine, according to grape geneticist and ampelographer Dr José Vouillamoz, who also explores whether it will also decide its future. The possibilities are boundless, with an electronic nose already being used to classify cultivars, and Vouillamoz, one of the world's leading authorities on grape variety origins through DNA profiling,...
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From the Chair: Help another wine writer in 2026

Posted on by Meg Maker
In her column this month, Circle Chair Meg Maker encourage members to help and mentor colleagues as their New Year’s resolution for 2026. Wine as a category is experiencing myriad existential threats: climatic, meteorological, social, cultural, financial. It’s a destabilising time, but as wine commentators our role is to help make sense of it all, prying apart false and shaky claims, dismantling ...
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