A Virtuoso vintage at a bargain price

Matthew Jukes goes absolutely nuts for one of the most riveting whites of the year.

2006 Pegasus Bay, Virtuoso Chardonnay, Waipara, North Canterbury, New Zealand (£20.00, case price, Wimbledon Wine Cellar, 020-8540 9979, www.wimbledonwinecellar.com ).

There are only 13 cases of this wine in the UK and the geniuses at Wimbledon Wine have earmarked them for you, my eagle-eyed MoneyWeek wine lovers. The price that Wimbledon Wine Cellar has quoted us is miles under what you'd have to pay for it anywhere in the world, in fact it is a tad cheaper than the cellar door price at Peg Bay itself!

So why all the fuss? I tasted a bottle of '06 Virtuoso the other day and I was pole-axed with carnal, vinous desire.

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Made in exactly the same way as great white Burgundy (both Lynnette and Matt son and daughter-in-law of owner Ivan Donaldson have worked in Burgundy extensively), this is one of the most riveting whites of the year and for 20 quid you will go absolutely nuts when you taste the lush, cool, layered fruit and the staggering minerality underpinning all of the action.

Drinking well now, this vintage will easily last for a further five years, so you can put it up against any of your Burgundies and ask you friends for a vote. Do not bet against this Virtuoso.

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

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.