A debonair charmer of a wine

2011 Haskell Vineyards, Aeon, Stellenbosch, South Africa (£24.95, reduced to £22.75 each if you buy a case, Lea & Sandeman, 020-7244 0522).

I have no doubt that the recent Lea & Sandeman tasting held at the home of wine, Vintners' Hall in London, was and will be the finest indie wine merchant event of the year. Wine after wine shone with individuality, excellence and value.

I urge you to seek them out because their portfolio is exquisitely assembled and I have no doubt that loads of their finds will pop up on this page in due course. Haskell Vineyards and Dombeya, the original name for the estate, are labels I have stalked for a good few years. The 2013 Dombeya Chardonnay (£13.50) is a breakthrough wine for them, with a satisfyingly mellow mid-palate balanced by a tart, zesty finish. Take a break from white Burgundy and give this seductive wine a whirl.

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The star of the show (and of the whole tasting) was Aeon, a syrah with a dribble of mourvdre embedded in its core. This is a measured wine with equal parts brutish warrior and debonair charmer. Deep and dark, bristling with power throughout, this wine is encased in the most genial and suave exterior which hints at menace but never frightens the palate. When you dive in you are treated to a sensory explosion which will leave you blushing with excitement.

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