Modern classics you must try this month
For his April selections for the MoneyWeek wine club, Matthew Jukes has picked three whites and three reds – each with touches of classicism, balanced carefully with a modern sheen.
I have selected three whites and three reds for April and each wine has touches of classicism, balanced carefully with a modern sheen. It is this combination of traits that I find so attractive in delicious, affordable and immensely satisfying wine. Tanners is such a revered merchant that it is easy to imagine that its staff are seated behind their ledgers with quill pens aloft while nipping away at tiny glasses of Madeira and trying to avoid getting wig powder in their eyes. While the Tanners HQ in Shrewsbury is part wine museum and part Aladdin's cave, the palates who make the big decisions are youthful, dynamic and well-travelled! They manage to track down wines whose flavours are rooted in the historic soils of the most famous vineyards of Europe, but the energy and delivery of these wines is as modern and fruit-focused as it gets!
Cheers!
Matthew Jukes
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How it works
This collection is available to buy online via Tanners' website, or give them a call on 01743 234455 and quote "MoneyWeek" to benefit from exclusive MoneyWeek savings and FREE UK delivery.
Prices and savings below are based on ordering a case of 12 bottles. You can also buy a mixed case, which allows you to try every wine (twice!) and, offering the best saving per bottle, is the most popular option with MoneyWeek readers. Offer ends 3 May 2019.
MOST POPULARMixed Case - two of each bottle
£13.03£11.67 per bottle / £140 per case, saving £16.40
The mixed case offers two bottles of each wine in this offer, and we've negotiated a little extra discount on this case, making it the best way to sample every wine at a very attractive price!
2017 Piesporter Goldtrpfchen, Riesling Kabinett, Kurt Hain, Mosel, Germany
£13.70£12.70 per bottle / £152.40 per case of 12 bottles
I love it when bottles taste as good as they look. Of course, this rarely happens but Hain's Riesling promises much, and when you smell and taste this wine it manages to over-deliver to such a degree that you feel mildly ravished. There is just the right amount of tantalising grapeiness' on the finish of this wine which smooths out the edgy, lime-juice-themed Riesling, and the value here is staggering, too.
2017 Margan Wines, House of Certain Views, Pinot Grigio, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia
£10.80,£9.80 per bottle / £117.60 per case of 12 bottles
Smooth, creamy, textural and more indulgently layered than hosts of Pinot Grigios from Trentino-Alto Adige in northern Italy, this is a downright delicious ten quid white wine. Every single person will love it. Andrew Margan is a very well-travelled winemaker and used to work in Bordeaux. He drove past Vieux Chteau Certan every day (one of my favourite properties in the world) and the inspiration for the name of this wine stems from the mis-translation of that property - brilliantly memorable!
2018 Cape Elevation Vineyards, Contour Path Sauvignon Blanc, Elgin, South Africa
£11.70£10.70 per bottle / £128.40 per case of 12 bottles
I am especially picky about South African Sauvignon Blanc, and given that there are millions of litres of the stuff out there on the shelves, I will only feature elite versions in my columns. With a dribble of 7% Semillon in the blend, this wine shows pithy fruit and a lemon zesty tang, yet it is not too raw or acidic, preferring to deliver its soothing form in genuine style. Add to this flashes of mint leaf and verbena and you have a very cultured white wine indeed.
2015 Chinon, Silnes, Charles Joguet, Loire, France
£17.20 £15.90 per bottle / £190.80 per case of 12 bottles
While this wine is a few pounds more expensive than the others, it was the first one onto this page in terms of sheer wow' appeal. Regular readers will know I adore ripe Cabernet Franc and 2015 was a stunning vintage in the Loire. Joguet is a winery I have followed for 30 years and so there was every chance this would be a star. I did not expect an extra dimension of fruit and earth coupled with a devilish swagger - turning this wine from a success into a screamer!
2017 Pradorey, Origen Tinto Roble, Ribera del Duero, Spain
£11.40£10.40 per bottle / £124.80 per case of 12 bottles
Here is a wine from a little left of field and it is as surprising as it is gluggable. Coming from the cosmically famous Ribera del Duero region of Spain, where the great Vega-Sicilia is found, this wine is like a cheeky court jester bounding around at the feet of the King. Made from a blend of Tempranillo, Mazuelo and Cabernet this is clean, ripe, blackberry-themed with an unmistakable Iberian twang of mystery. It is an awful lot of fun for a tenner and while it's shaped a little like a boisterous claret, it has masses more character and I venture you will love it, too.
2015 Chteau Semonlon, Haut-Mdoc, Bordeaux, France
£13.40£12.40 per bottle / £148.80 per case of 12 bottles
Here is a wine which is only just drinking, so you must decant it if you would like to taste it right away. Great value 2015s are thin on the ground these days so please consider going in deep with Semonlon because it has a further five glorious years ahead of it. With the silhouette of a much pricier wine, this estate is the proud owner of some old vines planted on gravel soils, in Avensan, a small hamlet not far from Margaux. The blend is approximately 50% Cabernet / 50% Merlot and in 2015 both grapes performed at the top of their game.
Buy online today via Tanners' website, or give them a call on 01743 234455 and quote "MoneyWeek" to benefit from these exclusive savings and FREE UK delivery (mainland only).
Terms & Conditions: Offer ends 3 May 2019. Free delivery on all orders of 12 bottles of wine or more, otherwise £7.95. Orders will be dispatched within 3 working days of orders being received. Payment can be made by credit or debit card over the phone or online.
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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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