A chardonnay-challenging super-star

This potential super-star grape will find many more fans in a short space of time, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
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(Image credit: Copyright © 2017 3ND S.r.l.)

2015 Tenuta Guado al Tasso, Vermentino, Antinori, Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy (£14.30, Tannico.co.uk).

There is a lot to be said for the vermentino grape and it is exciting that we are, in the UK, seeing many more incarnations of this variety these days. Many of the simple, everyday wines are quirky, raspy and lip-lickingly refreshing, while the more structured and more serious offerings step up in complexity to chardonnay-challenging status in terms of palate weight, distinction and impact.

Hero wine family Antinori makes this lustrous wine at their Guado al Tasso estate, 50 miles to the southwest of Florence, near Bolgheri, a medieval hamlet in the Maremma area of the Tuscan coast. There is no oak in the wine, but there is an amazing creamy feel to it, which usually suggests barrel influence this is vermentino's skill. It has a stone fruit theme with honeysuckle and wild flowers throughout, and the best examples flirt with richness, but finish bracingly, with tart acidity.

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This makes them stunning wines to enjoy with fresh fish dishes, which is, of course, what you dine on when visiting this part of the world. In terms of value, this is a steal flavour, class, complexity and reward of this scale in any white wine usually require a £20 note at least. Give it a whirl and you will see what I mean. This potential super-star grape will find many more fans in a short space of time.

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