A glass of of world-class Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Jules Taylor Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand (£12.99, Handford Wines, 020-7589 6113,
www.handford.net
).
The Marlborough region had a huge Sauvignon Blanc harvest in 2008 and a large number of wines were made from diluted fruit. This is why you may have come across a few weedy 2008s in the past six months or so.
With more judicious pruning, the energy from the roots can be focused into fewer grapes and the wine quality leaps up. But greed takes over and less scrupulous producers make underwhelming wines (but more cash, one assumes, in the short term).
It's not long before these charlatans get found out though – the proof is in the glass, after all. So this week I have chosen a paragon of virtue: the lovely Jules Taylor and her stunning 2008 Sauvignon.
It is strange to think that a relative newcomer should make what I deem to be a totally and utterly benchmark version of Marlborough Sauv – but she does, and you should drink it. Forget the other big names: enjoy a glass of this honest, brilliant-value, world-class wine today.
• Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year.