Wine of the week: an utterly stunning pinot noir

Matthew Jukes tastes a sensational Aussie pinot noir which will only improve over five years or so.

Matthew Jukes
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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
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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