Wine of the week: an utterly stunning pinot noir

2008 Stonier Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia (£14.30, Bibendum Wine, 020-7449 4000, www.bibendum-wine.co.uk ). Available for £12.99 from www.waitrosewine.com .

I was lucky enough to sit on the inaugural UK Stonier International pinot noir tasting panel the other day. I have twice been asked to be the international commentator in the Melbourne versions of this historic blind tasting and the format 12 world class pinot tasted blind by everyone, including the panel, followed by debate and deliberation is one of the most interesting and enjoyable events in the wine world.

Stonier enters only one wine into the line up 2008 Stonier Windmill Pinot Noir and the others are tiptop wines (see my website for a review of the Melbourne event last September) which express their exact site and winemakers' style.

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We in the wine business never get to do this sort of exercise en masse and it certainly tells you a lot about your own tastes. As an aside, Windmill did very well on the day and so, by way of an introduction to Stonier, here is the estate pinot from wine-maker Mike Symons (which has a decent slug of Windmill in it!) and it is an utterly stunning wine. Buy a case it is sensational and will only improve further over five more years.

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

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.