In a wine trade survey, UK retailers were asked which wine writer had the most influence over their customers. The answer was, unanimously, Matthew Jukes. With over 9 million Daily Mail readers a week, Matthew has the most keenly followed wine column in the UK. He also writes a weekly piece for MoneyWeek and occasional features for Decanter. He has won the highly prestigious International Wine and Spirit Competition’s Trophy for Wine Communicator of the Year and he is the wine buyer for Bibendum Restaurant & Oyster Bar, the Masala World group of Indian Restaurants (Chutney Mary, Amaya and Veeraswamy), all in London, and the exclusive, private wine club Quintessentially Wine worldwide. All six editions of The Wine List, his annual wine guide, were UK bestsellers. In addition, The Wine Book is in its tenth year of publication. He co-authored Taste Food & Wine, an annual wine guide published in Australia and New Zealand, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer. Taste was a number one bestseller in its inaugural year of publication and it has recently won the Australian Food Media Award for Best Food and Writing. He lectures and judges all over the world, most recently in Canberra for the National Wine Show of Australia and at Pinot 2010 in Wellington, New Zealand, earlier this year. Matthew is the creator of four ground-breaking, annual, wine event releases - the 100 Best Australian Wines (in May, assisted by Quentin Johnson) and the 60 Best New Zealand Wines (in January, also assisted by Quentin Johnson). The Great Australian Red competition - the quest to find the finest blends that ‘define Australia’ is a unique Shiraz / Cabernet Sauvignon tasting (in November, alongside Tyson Stelzer) and The Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification (in February, again alongside Tyson Stlezer) is the first New World Classification of its kind.
Matthew’s thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.
Matthew launched the inaugural ’Hall of Fame’ of the 100 Best Australian Wines on 18 May 2010 in London this year.
Matthew is also the Patron and Founder of Touch Wine – raising money for the Hutt St Centre in Adelaide and other homeless refuges around the world. Wine Rules, a brand new initiative, will use the Touch Wine template for the first time in Melbourne, this year, on the 21 November. This event will, once again, celebrate incredible wine and deft ‘touch footy’ skills in order to raise funds for Victoria’s homeless community. For more information see www.winerules.com.au.
Follow me on Twitter - MatthewSJukes.
Email Quentin Johnson for information on our 100 Best Tour for 2010 or for submissions for 2011’s 100 Best Australian Wines at q@quentinjohnson.com.