Giaconda: a monumental chardonnay

The 2012 Giaconda is one of my 100 Best Australian Wines for 2015, says Matthew Jukes.

749_Wine

2012 Giaconda, Estate Vineyard Chardonnay, Beechworth, Victoria, Australia (about £95, Philglas &Swiggot, 020-7924 4494, philglas-swiggot.com; Noel Young Wines,01223-566744, nywines.co.uk).

The late, great Adam Bancroft was the first person in the UK to find the heavenly Giaconda wines for our market and I was lucky enough to be the first person to buy them from him, over 20 years ago, for Bibendum Restaurant's wine list. Last week, there was be a party in London to celebrate 25 years of Adam's eponymous wine company and we will all miss him being there he left this country with an enormous vinous legacy.

This exquisite wine is one of my just-released 100 Best Australian Wines for 2015/16 (you can find the full list on matthewjukes.com) and Giaconda winemaker Rick Kinzbrunner came over to the UK a few weeks ago to host a masterclass, so all the stars are aligned for this chardonnay!

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A true tour de force, the cortge of flavours roll across the palate respectfully firing up every neuron with rapture. The monumentality of this wine is easy to comprehend. Visceral and spectral, this is a wine that has the weight and temporal control of a mighty red and it leaves you juddering as the shock waves subside.

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

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.