Wine of the week: A vibrant red for the spring

published 12 March 2013

2010 Luna Beberide, Finca La Cuesta, Bierzo, Spain (£12.90, Grey's Fine Foods, 01423-358159, Greysfinefoods.com).

Do MoneyWeek readers have the finest palates in the country? I would venture that you do. I often receive reports from wine merchants up and down the country who have been contacted by you, looking to fill your cellars with wines that I have written up, and they are always delighted with these new relationships. This week the tables have been turned.

lvaro del Portillo, a devoted MoneyWeek disciple, contacted me about his company, Grey's Fine Foods, and he sent me a selection of his finest Spanish wines in the hope that they would pass muster.

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Finca La Cuesta was the pick of the reds and it is a stunning example of the rare menca grape. With vibrant red cherry fruit and a pulse-racing slickness of texture, this is an impressive wine. Think of turbo-charged, top end Beaujolais with Iberian flair! This is set to be my spring/summer red of choice.

If you would like to taste a first class txakoli, Spain's hyperactive version of muscadet, then 2011 Zudugarai (£10.50) is a hilariously nervy example, too. Thank you, readers, for your wine recommendations.

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.