Vineyard Magazine

Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – October 2023 – The Annual Bunfight

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk I do not doubt that, with all the best intentions in the world, the Wine GB mob opened the doors to this year’s annual tasting, expecting it to be an unqualified success. Judging by the grumblings in the room, from wineries and guests alike, and the following rumblings on social media, it did not have the sheen of success…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – September 2023 – London Calling

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk  Four years ago, I wrote my first piece on London wineries in Vineyard Magazine. I titled the piece ‘Urban Jungle’ – I felt this summed up the mood at the time.  Four years ago, before the pandemic, it was a very different landscape with an emerging group of talented winemakers making names for themselves with edgier,…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – August 2023 – Rock Stars

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk photo credit - Simon John Owen I absolutely love an advert that popped up on the telly the other day. It is for a business called Workday - an enterprise management cloud. While I have no idea what an enterprise management cloud is, this cunning business is undoubtedly firing up interest in its activities with its ‘Rock…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – July 2023 – Party Time

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk It’s summer party time, and those English and Welsh wineries with keenly priced, refreshing styles of wine should be banging a booming drum.  I know that the sparkling specialists are trying to drum up (intentional pun) party business all year round, given this is a celebratory style of wine, but still wine specialists…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – June 2023 – Pushing the Envelope

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk I read a tweet from a fellow wine writer the other day.  He is someone I very much respect in our industry and he said, ‘Why isn’t the trade – and consumers – more excited about English wine? Is it dull?  Inconsistent? Not as good as we think?’  Of course, this is the point of Twitter – say something contentious…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – May 2023 – When you least expect it

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk I am always on the lookout for great bottles. I take pictures of labels, make hasty notes on my phone, and sometimes even accept random sips from strangers, but it is still amazing how many remarkable wines come to my attention when I least expect them.  I am often asked, “Do you manage to drink wine for pleasure?”  I…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – April 2023 – Value For Money

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk  Value for money is a curious expression. It means something a little different to each of us, but I imagine it does not mean the same thing as a ‘bargain’ to any of us. A bargain is something sold cheaply, a product or a service that is run-of-the-mill, everyday, not something special. Buy one get one free on loo rolls,…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – March 2023 – What’s in a name?

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”  Shakespeare used this line in Romeo and Juliet to suggest that the naming of things is irrelevant.  But is it?  I have selected three wines this week that use carefully chosen words to convey a deep sense of understanding…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – February 2023 – Nonconformists Unite

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk In a world of conformity, you want things that stand out, that catch the eye, with their point of difference or even a genuine and authentic USP. In our world, it is better still if this point of difference ‘catches the palate’, too. This month I have found three wines for you that taste incredible while at the same…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – January 2023 – New Year, New Wines

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk I contemplated writing a New Year’s Resolutions piece this month, but this is a somewhat outdated concept, and, as we know, no one keeps to their promises a couple of weeks into January anyway.  Some of my past NYRs have come true, like Hambledon moving out of clear glass and into green for their sparkling rosé, so I…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – December 2022 – No Upper Limit

www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk The expression ‘no upper limit’ often elicits one of two reactions – sheer terror or overwhelming excitement.  I suspect this depends on your state of mind, bank balance and, to a degree, your confidence.  The sparkling wine world is filled with opportunities to spend obscene amounts of cash, yet I imagine many of…
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Matthew Jukes -Articles- Vineyard

Vineyard Magazine – November 2022 – “There’s gold in them thar hills”

Vineyard November 2022 “There’s gold in them thar hills” www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk Allow me the indulgence of a brief history lesson gleaned from a quick trawl around the dark recesses of the internet. Matthew Fleming Stephenson (1802–1882) was an American miner, geologist and mineralogist based in the US state of Georgia. He was one of…
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I am a lifelong fan of English wines and I am extremely proud to have been asked to contribute to Vineyard Magazine from the very first issue published in January 2018.   Vineyard is a monthly, specialist publication for viticulturalists and winemakers in Great Britain.  I write the only consumer-facing article in the magazine highlighting three terrific wines of particular interest, tying them together along a singular theme – www.vineyardmagazine.co.uk.