2016 Vias de Gain, Artadi, lava, Spain£28.50, Richard Dawes Fine Wine, 020-7924 4300, rdfinewine.com; Teddington Stores, 01386-725400, teddingtonstores.co.uk
I strolled around a huge tasting the other day and was particularly enthused when I hit the Artadi table. These are always great wines and, of the eight bottles, all red, all fascinating, and topping out at an eye-watering £200, my favourite, the highest scoring and most delicious, was Vias de Gain. It also happened to be the least expensive of the bunch, too.
This is a sensational Spanish red and, in one bottle, it sums up everything I love about tempranillo. Made from organically grown grapes, sourced from select 20- to 30-year-old vineyards, it gets treated to 12 months in posh French oak, and this adds gloss and bravado to proceedings. While I love what American oak does to great Rioja, I cannot abide the Benylin and stale floor mop aromatics of cheap Rioja, which is usually infected with the worst notes from dirty, old American oak barrels.
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Vias de Gain is so pristine and bold on the nose and palate it makes you sit up in your chair. It is glossy, confident, impeccably turned out and will age perfectly for ten years. It is a gripping example of a big red that walks up to the precipice of true balance and stands, resolute, admiring the view.
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)
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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.
