Wine of the week: The finest pinot noir vintage ever

published 6 March 2013

2010 Ata Rangi, Pinot Noir, Martinborough, New Zealand (about £42.99, Carruthers & Kent, 0191-213 1818; Halifax Wine Co, 01422-256333; Divine Fine Wines, 0121-745 6999; Hedonism, 020-7290 7870; Philglas & Swiggot, 020-7924 4494; North & South Wines, 020-7228 2431; Wine Reserve, 01932-866682; Guildford Wine Co, 01483-560647).

There's a good chance that I was the first person in the UK to taste a wine from Ata Rangi way back in 1987. Alison Paton, sister of Clive, the visionary founder of the company, gave me a half bottle of a gewrztraminer that they made way back in 1987 when we worked together at the legendary Barnes Wine Shop. So much has changed since then.

This estate, meaning Dawn Sky', makes the most revered pinot noir in New Zealand. In my annual The Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification' (watch out for the 2013 edition coming free to my website very soon), Ata Rangi is a Five Star estate.

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I have just come back from two weeks in New Zealand, tasting more than 500 wines for this year's Classification, and it is not giving the game away to say that Ata Rangi's star rating is unchanged. The 2010 vintage from this world-class property is the finest vintage I have ever tasted. You must own this wine.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.