New Zealand's first blended white

published 23 January 2009

2006 The White, The John Forrest Collection, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand (£16.99, Adnams, 01502-727222, www.adnams.co.uk).

Many moons ago I had dinner with a few high-level wine wizards in London Jeff Grosset (Clare Valley riesling fame), John Forrest (read on), Tyson Stelzer (who later became my co-author in Australia) and others. We debated long and hard over many delightful glasses of wine. I challenged John, "Why are there no truly great New Zealand white wines, like those incredible blended whites from Northern Italy?"

We scratched our heads everything NZ made was single variety and very few aged for more than 12 months.

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A year later John came over to London with loads of fresh made (un-bottled and un-blended) '05 vintage wines from every one of his white varieties (riesling, sauvignon, chardonnay, gewurz, chenin blanc, pinot gris) and he challenged me, "Blend the best white you can!"

A few hours later I had done just that. John returned home and put it together and we came up with the name 'The White'. The 2005 is still ageing gracefully and, even though I say it myself, it is one of the most alluring Kiwi whites I have ever tasted. I had no hand in this 2006, but it is incredible, and the 2007 which follows is perhaps the best ever.

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

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.