One for the ardent oak-lovers

published 10 July 2020

2018 Cordillera de los Andes, Chardonnay, Miguel Torres, Limarí Valley, Chile

£13.99, 64 branches of Waitrose and at waitrosecellar.com

There is a covert faction out there of determined and vehemently loyal palates with rather select desires. This rogue, outlying army of olfactory specialists has a lifelong and fully fledged passion for brazenly oaked chardonnay. Now don’t get me wrong, this is not the head-banging, death-metal, high-octane, marmalade-hued, vinous poison of yesteryear. We all agree that that 15% alcohol, American oak-fermented, hangover-syrup has thankfully been confined to the great wine spittoon in the sky, hopefully never to return. No, this fiercely loyal chardonnay sect adores full-bore, gloriously proportioned chardonnay that is rewarded with epic-quality carpentry because it is of such high quality and undeniable gustatory prowess.

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I, too, love this style of wine. Big, proud, theatrical and delicious, these wines are responsible for a fast-growing crowd of oaked chardonnay disciples and they are sure to reveal themselves before too long. So, this week I have a wine especially for these ardent oak-lovers: 2018 Cordillera is a handsome, flavour-packed, expressive wine with perfectly balanced, but undoubtedly hedonistic levels of oak. The lemony intensity of the fruit carries the barrel flavours like a heady lemon meringue carries its pie crust!

Join the throng and let this wine show you the way. Spain’s most famous wine champion, Miguel Torres, set up an outpost in Chile more than 40 years ago – this wine is a perfect example of his extraordinary vision.

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.