A highly complex white for just £20

Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon is one of Australia's rarest and most sought-after whites, a steal at just £20.

2000 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia (£19.99, selected Tesco).

Over 100 Tesco stores stock this heavenly wine, which is one of Australia's rarest and most sought-after whites. At eight years old, it is just approaching its apogee.

So why is the UK's biggest supermarket selling this incredible nectar when you'd expect to see it on sale at some tiny independent Aussie wine specialist? The answer is that Tesco buys large quantities of a number of Tyrrell's 'lesser' wines; this epic parcel is a sort of 'thank you for your patronage' gesture.

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Vat 1 is one of only two truly iconic Aussie Sems (the other being McWilliams' Lovedale). It is an unoaked wine, but doesn't feel like it on the nose and palate because the age brings a broadness and nuttiness usually associated with barrel fermentation and ageing. These toast and lemon-curd notes are mesmerising.

Extraordinary when served with main course fish dishes, roast chicken (or turkey and goose!), veal, pork and so on, only top-flight Grand Cru Chablis has as many food and wine-matching tricks up its sleeve.

Highly intellectual, highly complex, highly sought-after and a steal at the price a nice combination.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year

Matthew Jukes
Wine columnist

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

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

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.