Wine of the week: a quartet of remarkable kiwis

published 19 February 2021

2019 Jules Taylor, Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand

£19.50, reduced to £17 each when bought as a case of 12 bottles, decvin.com.

Jules Taylor is a prodigiously talented winemaker and she has just celebrated her 20th year making her eponymous portfolio of wines. I have followed her every step of the way, yet she has never released a set of bottles like the quartet featured in this article, which have just arrived on our shores.

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Leading with the remarkable pinot noir (details above), which is so keenly priced it makes all but a handful of pinots in the world look embarrassed, this is a dark-hued and extraordinarily resonant wine. The nose is sensational, with Auxey-Duresses and Monthélie allure, and this sonorous call to arms is followed by admirable restraint on the palate coupled with hints of earth and spice. This is a brilliant wine and one which should be in everyone’s cellar given its fruit purity, freshness and thrilling balance.

While you are ordering the pinot noir, load up with 2020 Jules Taylor Pinot Gris (£16.50) – a smooth, tangy, toned and hauntingly refreshing version of this oft-dowdy and dilute white grape. The 2020 Jules Taylor Sauvignon Blanc (£14.95) also bears Jules’ trademark delicacy and control, with sleek, lean, citrus fruit, yet with none of the pushy, tropical fruit flavours which make so many Marlborough versions fall flat. Finally, 2019 Jules Taylor Chardonnay (£16.50) is showy, silky, layered and enticing, and yet it still manages to bring vivacity and brisk acidity to the fore in its long finish. Every one of these wines is drinking now, too, so don’t delay.

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.