Tesco's Finest deserves its name

If you want to taste this staggeringly serious Ribera del Duero, you'll have to get your skates on, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
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2000 Tesco Finest Ribera del Duero Gran Reserva, Limited Edition, Spain (£14.99, selected Tesco).

Tesco is celebrating ten years of its 'Finest' own-label wine series. I sat through an enlightening lecture given by Dan Jago, director of beers, wines and spirits for the supermarket, the other day and he waxed lyrical about the passion behind all of the Finest brands and how they over-delivered and made customers feel loved-up etc.

Propaganda aside, the truth is that the Finest wine range is more hit than miss and for this reason this massive supermarket chain can feel justifiably smug about its achievements.

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A new limited edition of wines is in store now and they are all ten years old from the great 2000 vintage. They all look outstanding in their anniversary livery and the best of the bunch is this staggeringly serious Ribera del Duero. If you've heard of Vega Sicilia, but can't find a spare £200 or £300 to drop on a bottle, then this wine will do nicely.

Think suave claret feel with Spanish flair and you will be very close to the flavour of this beauty. Don't dilly dally though because there is only a finite stock of this tinto and it is only in 100 stores, so get your skates on because it is extraordinary value for money.

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

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

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.

 

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