Matthew Jukes

MoneyWeek, 3 September 2010 - 2008 Strandveld Vineyards Adamastor, Elim, South Africa

Matthew — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:06:17 +0000

2008 Strandveld Vineyards Adamastor, Elim, South Africa (£16.00, Specialist Vineyards tel. 020 8969 9896 & info@specialistvineyards.com). I have recently tasted two white South African wines which have really set the standard for all other Cape whites and they should also sound a warning shot across the bows of the rest of the keen newcomers to the global, top flight wine game. Strandveld’s extraordinary Sauvignon Blanc/ Semillon blend is incredibly herbal, cool and racy, with the sort of flavour concentration and minerality that you only find in A Grade vineyard sites. Elim is relatively cold region in South Africa, benefitting from chilly ocean winds, and the Sauvignons from here always have an attack and piercing lime juice notes which sends shivers down my spine. The clever move with Adamastor is to combine this ice-pick Sauvignon with leesy, creamy, mildly oaked Semillon, from white quartzite soils, which brings green fig and meadow flower notes to the mix. Winemaker Conrad Vlok is a perceptive chap and it is his palate which must take the credit for getting the utmost elegance and integrity from his vineyards and vines. Comparable to the wines of Cotat in Chavignol, Schloss Gobelsburg in Austria and John Forrest in Marlborough, in terms of truly reflecting their postcode, this is a great wine! Next week - South Africa’s finest Chardonnay!

The Stonier International Pinot Noir Tasting - 6 September 2010

Matthew — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:33:52 +0000

I very much look forward to seeing all of you who are attending at the National Gallery of Victoria, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne on Monday 6 September. I will be reporting back about this amazing event on my return to the UK later that week. I will also be whipping Victorians up into a state of high frenzy in order to raise awareness, interest and sponsorship for Wine Rules on 21 November this year. If you know anyone who might be interested in playing touch footy, sponsoring a team, sponsoring a pitch or auction item, coming along for a glass of wine and some great food or anything else in order to raise much-needed funds for St Mary’s House of Welcome then please drop us a line via the delightful Pamela Whiting at PWhiting@smhow.org.au .

Cheers - see you all soon.

MoneyWeek, 27 August 2010 - 2002 Joseph Perrier, Brut Rosé, Champagne

Matthew — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:46:04 +0000

Sadly, the photo in the magazine this week is the wrong one - blame the UK agent! Oh well. Be assured that the bottle of wine is an awful lot prettier than the one featured!

2002 Joseph Perrier, Brut Rosé, Champagne, France (£43.50 - £49.95, Cambridge Wine Merchants tel. 01223 568991, Eurovines of the Isle of Wight tel. 01983 811743, Grapeland of St Albans tel. 01923 284436, Great Western Wine of Bath tel. 01225 322800, Hennings of Sussex tel. 01798 872485, Hercules Wines of Faversham and Sandwich tel. 01795 530050, Michael Jobling of Newcastle tel. 0191 378 4554, New London Wine tel. 0207 622 3000, Weavers of Nottingham tel. 0115 958 0922, Wine Importers of Edinburgh tel. 0131 556 3601). I have a Bank Holiday treat for you all this week, and in the spirit of fair play, I have made sure that I have included as many stockists as I can possibly find, in the hope that you will all be able to find a bottle or two no matter where you live in the UK. Joseph Perrier’s new vintage rosé is a dreamboat. The ancient, skittle-shaped bottle catches the eye as much as the intensity of its pink hue in the glass and, rather amazingly, it is the first vintage rosé made at this house since its inception 185 years ago. 2002 is a stunning vintage - cool, calm and with fabulous mouth-watering acidity. It will live for a decade with ease, but I could not help myself the other day and I polished off a bottle with some grilled tiger-prawns in a trice! These days, a lot of the bigger fizz brands charge nearer to the hundred quid mark for this sort of wine - well done for Joseph Perrier for keeping this wine within reach of us mere mortals.

Daily Mail Weekend, 21 August 2010 - 3 new wines

Matthew — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:27:21 +0000

3 Wines for Tomato Recipes!

The seemingly innocent tomato is a notoriously difficult chap to match to wine. Look to high acid wines with crisp finishes to balance nicely with these dishes. And any colour goes, hence my delicious triplet of wines this week.

2008 Chinon, Domaine du Colombier, Loire, France (£5.99, Sainsbury’s). This cheeky little red is made from the masterful cabernet franc grape variety and even when it is served chilled it has a sensational aroma of violets, fresh herbs and blackberries. This is a little-known style of wine with a very big heart and it is perfect with tomato sauces.

2009 Marquesa de la Cruz, Garnacha Rosé, Campo de Borja, Spain (£7.15, Waitrose). This is a fairly full rosé and it’s one which can tread the boards between lighter ‘fishy’ and heavier ‘meaty’ dishes with complete confidence. It’s the most rounded of the three this week and it can go with any tomato recipe you can think of. The strawberry and red cherry notes are amazingly accurate and the finish is dry, all-pervading and deliciously crunchy.

2009 Torres Viña Sol, Catalunya, Spain (£5.97, Asda). This is the best vintage of Viña Sol ever and it refreshes and cleanses the palate like never before with its cool, lemon balm and grapefruit notes. Tomato salads watch out - this cracking wine will take you all on and win!

MoneyWeek, 20 August 2010 - 2000 Tesco Finest* Ribera del Duero Gran Reserva, Limited Edition, Spain

Matthew — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:01:22 +0000

2000 Tesco Finest* Ribera del Duero Gran Reserva, Limited Edition, Spain (£14.99, selected Tesco). Tesco is celebrating ten years of its Finest* own-label wine series. I sat through an enlightening lecture given by Dan Jago, director of Beers, Wines and Spirits, the other day and he waxed lyrical about the passion behind all of the Finest* brands and how they over-delivered and made customers feel loved up etc. Propaganda aside, the truth is that Finest* wine range is more hit than miss and for this reason this massive supermarket chain can feel justifiably smug about its not inconsiderable achievements. A new Limited Edition of wines is in store now and they are all ten years old - from the great 2000 vintage. They all look outstanding in their anniversary livery and the best of the bunch is this staggeringly serious Ribera del Duero. If you’ve heard of Vega Sicilia, but can’t find a spare two or three hundred quid to drop on a bottle, then this wine will do nicely. Think suave claret feel with Spanish flair and you will be very close to the flavour of this beauty. Don’t dilly dally though because there is only a finite stock of this tinto and it is only in one hundred stores, so get your skates on because it is extraordinary value for money.

MoneyWeek, 13 August 2010 - 2009 Apremont, Les Rocailles, Savoie

Matthew — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:57:10 +0000

2009 Apremont, Les Rocailles, Savoie, France (£7.99, Waitrose or £7.59, by the case, www.waitrosewine.com). There is massive bolt of nostalgia welling up in me as I type this column. I haven’t drunk an Apremont in ages, so Les Rocailles is a massive treat. Perhaps that’s because I have missed out on a few years’ worth of French skiing holidays or maybe it’s just that the UK doesn’t really get into the wines of Savoie like those on the piste. Either way this extraordinary, dry white wine is drunk during the winter, more often than not, by us Brits and this is completely and utterly ridiculous, because it is nothing short of masterful in the summer entertaining arena. Crisp, teeth-tingling acidity, Alpine freshness and zesty lime and green apple notes puncture the palate as you soothe your taste buds with a large draught of this wine. It is stunning with garden salads, delicious with all manner of crustacea and heavenly with quiches and savoury tarts. Turn you world upside down this week and drink this verdant wine in the summer for once - you will never look back. Oh, and before I go, here’s a fabulous snippet of wine trivia. The grape used to make Apremont is the almost-extinct Jacquère and, yes, I had to look it up!

Daily Mail Weekend, 7 August 2010 - 3 new summer wines

Matthew — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:14:10 +0000

2009 Taste the Difference Albariño, Galicia, Spain (£6.99, Sainsbury’s). The quirky albariño grape smells a little like a tangy viognier with its peach fuzz, lime and honeysuckle notes and it is an impossible classy combo with seafood and crustacea, so it is spot on with the paella and it can slice through cheese with its rapier-like acidity, too, so the ricotta is well within its skills.

2008 Mt Difficulty, Pinot Gris, Central Otago, New Zealand (£17.49, reduced to £13.99 if you buy two New Zealand wines until 30 August, Majestic). One of the greatest estates in New Zealand, Mt Difficulty has now perfected its pinot gris and it is a lusty, rich, tropical white, with a full palate and a devastating finish. Drink it with this heavenly cod and beetroot recipe and see just how talented this grape is in the right hands.

2008 Granges de Mirabel Viognier, Chapoutier, Ardèche, France (£10.99, Four Walls Wine tel. 01243 535353, Wholefoods Market tel. 020 7368 4500, Daylesford tel. 020 7881 8060). Made from biodynamically farmed grapes (grown and tended by the phases of the moon!), this is a very worthy viognier, with superb apricot blossom notes and a creamy, ethereal palate. It is utterly delicious with these subtle and moreish frittatas.

MoneyWeek, 6 August 2010 - 2007 Moulin-à-Vent, Clos du Tremblay, Domaine Janin, Beaujolais

Matthew — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:12:53 +0000

2007 Moulin-à-Vent, Clos du Tremblay, Domaine Janin, Beaujolais, France (£15.75, Harvey Nichols of London tel. 020 7201 8537; £12.50, Underwood Wines of Warwick tel. 01926 402100). The Glorious Twelfth is just around the corner and you must arm yourself with a few decent reds for this annual challenge. This year I have decided to uncork a brace of Beaujolais to refresh and romance your palates. The first volleys of flighted game do not need to be brutalised by a muscular claret or violated by a brusque Rhône. The tender flavours of a well-judged grouse needs the soothing red fruit flavours of the most underrated of all red wine styles on the planet - top quality Cru Beaujolais. Janin’s Moulin-à-Vent is a wine that I have followed for twenty years - it is brooding, regal and packed with supple fruits de la forêt. It is light on its feet, but intensely flavoured and sumptuously appointed. It will serenade the bird, not shout down a megaphone at it and it is the finest of its kind and only sixteen quid - top Beaujolais is phenomenal value for money. For those of you fall head over heels with this wine, here is another stunner with an even more ethereal touch - 2008 Fleurie Clos de la Roilette, Domaine Coudert (£13.50, John Gordons of Cheltenham 01242 245985; £15.75, Harvey Nichols). Just ignore the donkey on the label - it is not a ‘serving suggestion’ I can assure you.

MoneyWeek, 30 July 2010 - 2006 Mountford Estate Pinot Noir, Waipara, New Zealand

Matthew — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:56:44 +0000

2006 Mountford Estate Pinot Noir, Waipara, New Zealand (£30.95, www.slurp.co.uk). Some of the world’s finest Pinots come from a small, virtually unknown, boutique wine region called Waipara, in the South Island of New Zealand. Heroic names like Pyramid Valley, Bell Hill and Pegasus Bay are already on the shrewdest of collectors’ lists - their wines are staggeringly serious, but they all stay well under the radar. Making tiny quantities of wine, like their great Burgundian counterparts, these three masterful estates already have a messianic following, but in spite of a number of new wineries popping up in this region over the last decade or so, no one else has reached these heights apart from Mountford. This incredible estate is set to rock the palates of the wine cognoscenti. Berry Bros (tel. 0800 280 2440) has the 2007 vintage and slurp.co.uk has the 2005 and 2006, apparently, so you could conceivably assemble a mini-vertical tasting and see for yourself just how beautiful and full of vitality and class CP Lin’s wines are. I visited him in February and tasted a massive line up of bottles and every single one was utterly captivating. There are very few wineries which have yet to be ‘discovered’ these days, particularly in the Pinot Noir field (the most difficult and sensitive of all), but I can say for certain that Mountford is teetering on the edge of superstardom.

MoneyWeek, 23 July 2010 - 2007 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, Mosel, Germany

Matthew — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:56:26 +0000

2007 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, Mosel, Germany (£14.00, MWH Wine Merchants tel. 0118 984 4654 and www.mwhwine.co.uk). I wrote up a von Kesselstatt wine in this column nearly four years ago and every bottle that I have tasted from this estate since has completely captivated my palate. A recent, sneaky, early look at their 2009 portfolio was nothing short of sensational. So, while you are waiting for these wines to make their way to our shores, UK importers MWH has a very exciting parcel of this ‘07 Scharzhofberger and also some stock of the 2007 Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Spatlese (£16.00). These are two completely different interpretations of the Riesling variety, but both are vital drinking. My featured wine is crisp, skittish and spine-tingling and it flows like babbling brook from the glass across your palate. The Piesporter is lush and languid, like a devastating diva. Please splash out on these wines. Here are some trivial pursuit facts about this estate, which I hope will mean that you will never forget the name von Kesselstatt and which will hopefully also spur you on to buy their wines. 1 - The von Kesselstatt estate is six hundred and sixty year old. 2 - Their top vineyard - Josephshöfer - dates back over one thousand years. 3 - Some of their vineyard slopes exceed 70 degrees! 4 - Lastly, Annegret Reh-Gartner, who runs the estate, is one of the most delightful people in the world of wine.