A world-class Sicilian white

published 4 September 2012

2010 Cometa, Planeta, Sicily, Italy (about £23.50, Greatwesternwine.co.uk; Slurp.co.uk; Majestic, Handford 020-7589 6113; Selfridges, 0800-123 400; The Wine Shop at Harrods, 020-7730 1234; Villeneuve Wines, 01721-722500).

I went to a restaurant called Zucca in Bermondsey Street, London, the other day and enjoyed one of the best lunches I can remember. The food was outstanding, incredibly fresh, not too dear and not too filling. The wine list was exceptionally well chosen and very good value (I can spot a naughty margin a mile off).

We slooshed down a bottle of Soave La Rocca Pieropan to kick off and then I hit upon the idea of choosing wines from estates that are featured in my forthcoming wine book, which focuses on my favourite 100 iconic estates of the world. Suffice to say that this restaurant had enough great wines, from my kind of wineries, to keep us amused all afternoon high praise indeed.

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Without giving too much away, our second white was Cometa, a succulent, lusty, decadent and stunningly oaked Fiano made by Sicily's most famous trailblazing estate. It is an awe-inspiring wine made in the shape of a top-flight white Burgundy. You ought to drink it at Zucca, but if you can't, then make sure that you have some at home it is world class.

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

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.