Matthew was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.  He joins an eminent list of previously appointed Honorary Australians, including Lord Carrington, Sir Robert Wilson, Baroness Greenfield and Sir David Attenborough.  In a wine trade survey (Harpers), UK retailers were asked which wine writer has the most influence over their customers.  The answer was, unanimously, Matthew Jukes.  In another list complied by OLN, in May 2011, Matthew was voted the most influential wine writer in the UK. 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) 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 eleventh year of publication.  He created and 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 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.

In November 2011 Matthew moderated the Australian version of the Stonier International Pinot Noir Tasting with Huon Hooke and James Halliday sitting on the panel.  He has previously been a panelist and a guest speaker at this event.  He was also a panelist at the inaugural SIPNOT event in London in January 2011 and again in 2012.

Matthew is the creator of a handful of ground-breaking, annual, wine releases – the 100 Best Australian Wines (released every May) and the brand new Discover New Zealand Roadshow – a series of essential & exquisite food and wine matching dinners to be rolled out in 2012.  The 100 Best Australian Wines Roadshow 2011/2 kicked off in autumn 2011 with eleven sell-out dates around the UK.  The Great Australian Red competition – the quest to find the finest red blends that ‘define Australia’.  TGAR is an unique Shiraz / Cabernet Sauvignon tasting (held every November, with Tyson Stelzer) and The Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification (each March, again with Tyson Stelzer) 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 ’Hall of Fame’ of the 100 Best Australian Wines in May 2011 in London.

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 new initiative, used the Touch Wine template for the first time in Melbourne in November 2010.  In November 2011 these two events were again enormously successful.   Both incredible celebrations of fine wine, delicous food, loud music and deft ‘touch footy’ skills - they raised well over $100000AUD combined!  St Mary’s House of Welcome, in Brunswick Street in Melbourne, is the chosen beneficiary in Victoria and the success of this second year event has guaranteed it a slot on the social calendar for years to come.  To date these various initiatives have raised over $700,000AUD for charity.  For more information see www.winerules.com.au and www.touchwine.com.au.  The next Touch Wine event will be held in Adelaide on 11 November 2012 and the next Wine Rules will be held in Melbourne on 18 November 2012.  Please try to come along – they are unforgettable.  If you cannot make it but would like to donate some money to the Hutt St Centre or St Mary’s House of Welcome please contact me directly.

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