One of the world’s most talented winemakers

This is a standout chardonnay from a peerless winemaker, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
By
published

784-Vidal

2012 Vidal, Legacy Chardonnay, Hawke's Bay, North Island, New Zealand (£39.20, NZHouseOfWine.co.uk; Cambridge Wine, 01223-568989; Brooksby Wines, 020-7317 7170; The New Zealand Cellar, 020-3662 7000; Noel Young, 01223-566744; Hot Corks, 01622-884453; Whalley Wines, 01254-822581).

For my 500th wine column in this esteemed tome it is my pleasure to draw your attention to one of the finest and most talented winemakers in the world Hugh Crichton. A quiet man, a great thinker, a peerless winemaker and a great palate, this fellow has been fastidiously making some of the world's most arresting wines at Vidal for a decade, but I doubt that very many of you will have ever heard of him.

Every year, the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association sends me the finest 12 wines of the year in order to give mean overview of the vintage. This year the 2013 VidalLegacy Syrah and 2013 Legacy Cabernet Merlotwere the top two wines. These will appear on theshelves later in the year, but there is older stockof both wines with the merchants mentionedabove.

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The standout chardonnay at this year's NewZealand Wine Annual tasting was the 2014Legacy and my featured 2012 was my top whitewine of 2015. This column is wholly obsessedwith superstar wines, but today it is all abouta superstar winemaker and his prodigiousportfolio.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of theInternational Wine & Spirit Competition'sCommunicator of the Year (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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