2015/16 MATTHEW JUKES’ 100 BEST AUSTRALIAN WINES 2015/16 The Twelfth Edition Welcome to my 100 Best Australian Wines list for 2015/16. As always, this century of greats is the result of exhaustive tastings held in the UK and Australia over the last twelve months. It represents the finest one hundred Australian wines available on the shelves in the UK for the coming year. It is designed as a balanced, modern collection of all styles of wine, including sparklers, whites, one rosé, reds, sweet and fortified wines. I endeavour to cover all price points and as many regions as possible in an effort to give you a complete Australian ‘wine list’ for the next twelve month’s worth of entertaining, cellar-building and championing. This document is, in effect, my snapshot of what is going on in Australia right now at the highest echelons of winemaking skill. This is the first year in which I will sell the 100 Best Australian Wines booklet on my website, in pdf form. If you come along to any of my 100 Best Roadshow events, you will be given the 100 Best booklet as part of your tasting experience. WORTHY OF NOTE Continued excellence - There only 7 wineries which have appeared in every single 100 Best List since its inception and they are - De Bortoli, Fox Gordon, McWilliam’s, Penfolds, The Lane Vineyard, Tyrrell’s & Yalumba. The top ten wineries in numbers of wines featured over the last 12 years are - 1 Penfolds 2 Yalumba 3 McWilliam’s 4 De Bortoli 5 Peter Lehmann 6 Jim Barry 7 The Lane Vineyard 8 Wirra Wirra 9 St Hallett 10 Jacob’s Creek 213 different wineries have appeared in the 100 Best in the last 12 years and there are 10 debut wineries appearing in this year’s list. This is a list of the top 40 wineries, in numbers of wines featured over the last 12 years, in alphabetical order, are - Brokenwood, Brown Brothers, Chapel Hill, Charles Melton, Clonakilla, Cullen, d’Arenberg, De Bortoli, Fox Gordon, Glaetzer, Grosset, Hardy’s, Jacob’s Creek, Jansz, Jim Barry, Keith Tulloch, Leeuwin, Majella, McWilliam’s, Mitolo, Moss Wood, Mount Horrocks, www.matthewjukes.com 3 Penfolds, Petaluma, Peter Lehmann, Pewsey Vale, Shaw & Smith, Skillogalee, St Hallett, Stonier, Tamar Ridge, The Lane Vineyard, Tim Adams, Torbreck, Tyrrell’s, Wakefield/Taylors, Wirra Wirra, Wolf Blass, Yabby Lake & Yalumba. These wineries have been the most reliable in our market for well over a decade and they are to be applauded. My Winery of the Year this year is Yalumba. This recognition is in no small part due to the remarkable reliability of this brand and its vast portfolio which kicks goals at all price points and also offers uncommon value from the highest level down to everyday drinking wines. There are few wineries in the world which manage this feat of excellence while also continuing to innovate and respond swiftly to the ever-changing world wine market. Over the last twelve months the 100 Best Australian Wines Roadshow has travelled to all corners of the UK on a series of sell-out dates. The response from the ever-increasing band of independent merchants who host these events is amazing. Attendance numbers at every event are up year on year. The 2015/16 Roadshow is already well oversubscribed and I am determined that it will be even more dynamic than ever. It goes without saying that every wine listed here has won its place by gaining immense scores in my notes and it has been confirmed by the UK agents that they all have sufficient stock to see us through to the New Year and hopefully beyond. As always, these are the only criteria for inclusion. The retail stockists and UK agents for each wine will be listed on my website and updated regularly, because inevitably when this list is launched new stockists appear. This document will be available free of charge on matthewjukes.com. The retail prices listed are accurate at the time of printing and they have all been confirmed, and double-checked, by the agents. Prices may vary over the course of the year so please be understanding of different retailers’ margin requirements. I have left a space for you to make notes after every wine in this booklet/ pdf in the hope that you will record your thoughts on these wines and then keep this document as your essential Australian wine guide for the coming year. I have also listed the wines in tasting order and not price order. This should make your lives easier, too. Massive thanks goes to all of the Australian wineries and their UK representatives who have sent me samples to taste for this initiative. I would like to thank Elizabeth Cook at Spritz Marketing & PR for her invaluable expertise and patience in dealing with me and also in organising the launch and the 100 Best Roadshow. I would like to thank the Wine Australia team for their support with my launch at Australia House. Copyright © Matthew Jukes - Nothing in this Report can be reproduced without my written permission. If you would like to contact me please use the form on my About Me page on www.matthewjukes.com. 4 www.matthewjukes.com FIZZ 2011 Taltarni, Blanc de Blancs, Pyrenees, Vic |│11.6% |│£18 This is a thoroughly relaxed wine, with a slender body and an impressive degree of refreshing acidity on the finish. Excellent from the first molecule of its aroma to the tips of its acid-tinged toes, this thrilling Chardonnay is guaranteed to seize your attention from the off. In terms of Aussie sparkling wines this is a restrained model and I admire the cut of its jib. Most top end fizzies load the palate with depth and lustiness, but this wine harpoons your taste buds with its acidity and enchants your senses with its discreet wildflower perfume. It is perhaps no surprise that 2011 Taltarni, Brut Taché (£15) is also great in this vintage. This was the first rosé Aussie fizz I ever tasted and it has amazed me with its delicately ‘stained’ colour and haunting wild strawberry scent for nearly three decades. It’s the finest value, everyday, rosé sparkler in Australia and it uses the three noble varieties, from three States, harnessing every inch of the class in its fruit to create this wondrous, refreshing wine. The final wine from this estate which blew me away was the newly released 2013 Taltarni, Sparkling Shiraz, Pyrenees (£18) – a bright, black cherry and chocolate concoction with a velvety texture and crisp finish, this is one Sparkling Shiraz which doesn’t need time to sort itself out because it is raring to go right now. Even the sceptics (still 99% of the UK, sadly) will not be able to resist its charms! NV Pirie, Sparkling, Tas |│11.6% |│£30 I see this wine every year in Melbourne when I host my Wine Rules fundraiser for St Mary’s House of Welcome. Pirie, now owned by wine Titans Brown Brothers, is a beacon of excellence in Tasmania and they have always supported this homeless charity. I take advantage of this annual opportunity to squirrel away a few glasses because I have long been a lover of this classy sparkler. We tend to see it in the UK sporadically, which is annoying, because this is a trailblazer in all respects and it also manages to amaze all-comers with its controlled, effortlessly distinguished flavours. The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir used here comes from the highest points of the White Hills vineyard in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley. Here the acid is nothing short of razor-wire sharp and it is this foundation on which the wine is built. Leave any snobbery at the door and dive into a glass of this beauty – it is going to amaze you with its calibre of fruit and lightness of touch. 2009 Jansz, Tasmania, Vintage Cuvée, Tas |│12.0% |│£22 Jansz fashions richer, more structured sparkling wines than many, but these Méthode Tasmanoise creations, from the Pipers River region, also load white-knuckle acidity into the mix, so they are always refreshing and impeccably balanced. Using a touch of barrel-work in www.matthewjukes.com 5 its production this new vintage cuvée is utterly mesmerising. Packed to the rafters with class and breeding, this is a wine which has appeared in the 100 Best more than any other Aussie fizz, flanked by its impeccably well-turned out henchmen - NV Jansz, Premium Cuvée (£16) and NV Jansz, Premium Rosé (£16). Clearly, the vintage cuvée is richer and fuller, but you can expect stunning build-quality in the two non-vintage wines, too. I am not sure why anyone need trouble Champagne with these three in your cellar - I know many 100 Best Roadshow fans who live by this mantra. SEMILLON & SAUVIGNON BLANC 2014 Teusner, Woodside Sauvignon Blanc, Adelaide Hills, SA |│12.5% |│£21 The chances of lightening striking twice with Woodside SB were surely slim? I wondered if last year’s 2013 Woodside Sauvignon Blanc was an aberration, given that Kym Teusner is clearly a man who only likes his red wines (his portfolio is 99.5% rouge), but the newly released 2014 has put me in my place with its pristine aromatics and gripping palate. Kym’s ‘rough rack, treating it dirty’ Sauvignon Blanc winemaking manual seems to work a treat. While this image conjures up all manner of indescribables, it certainly does the trick with this wine. The carefully-judged addition of 5% barrel-fermented Barossa Semillon glazes this wine with a sheen which only increases its allure.