MATTHEW JUKES | JUNE 2026

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Forebear 2021

If The Laird is a hulking, bristling, towering Shiraz, The Forebear is the epitome of monastic calm and imperious energy. It is a Le Musigny of the Shiraz world, with a nose off the charts and a palate finely cut and impeccably well-tailored. This is an extraordinary wine, with sensational bravado, and it’s like the annals of history of this grape have been distilled into one bottle of ostentatious wine. 2021 The Forebear is thrilling in every way, and the tannins are unnervingly pliable and athletic, and they will protect it for years to come. 20+/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Laird 2021

The Laird is a primordial leviathan in 2021 with immense ripeness, power and musculature. It is also amazingly showy and imposing, and it rushes, before you have a chance to be prepared, whereupon it assaults every inch of your olfactory circuit. Clouds of haze, comets and shooting stars fizz and arc across your taste buds and tectonic plates of flavour collide. The fruit density and sweetness are part seismic and part absurd, and while it is almost too big for my tastes, there are legions of fans who will go gaga for this wine. 19.5+/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

RunRig 2023

I have written many times about being the first person in the UK to buy this wine and list it on my Bibendum Restaurant wine list back in the ‘90s. That relationship has carried on unbroken to this day, and every time I taste RunRig, my heart takes a leap. In 2023, this is yet another super-serious and stunningly deep wine. The perfume is elevated, the palate is dense and regal, and the finish is initially ostentatious, then, at once, becomes contemplative and sage-like. Very dry, fine and hard, this is a classic example of a powerful wine that will drink well in its youth and then follow the two-decade RunRig mantra without missing a beat. I went back to my empty glass an hour later, and it was still utterly incredible. I would give it a higher score if I could, but 2023 RunRig will have to live with another perfect twenty. 20/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

Les Amis 2023

Made from 1960s-planted Grenache, this is a serious, super-concentration wine with more than a touch of Gandalf’s pipe on the nose! Only 100 cases were made, and it is the darkest and most cosmic wine I have tasted under this label. This is a fabulous, single-site, dry-grown vineyard with super-low yields. There is a deeply foresty wine with incredible DNA, and the palate is bloody, ferrous, complex and herbal. There is a deep, dark chocolate and cherry-red ganache rebound of flavour on the finish, making this sylvan creation decadent, too. 19+/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Factor 2023

The Factor commands respect, and with two years in 40% new French barriques, this is the super-posh wine in the Torbreck armoury. In 2023, the fruit is astonishingly luxurious, and it appears on the palate silently like a massive, black, stealthy and relentless submarine. Nautilus-like with extraordinary texture, acres of cacao and crates of spices and peppers, there is even a twist of Turkish bazaar here, which lightens the menacing mood. This is yet another staggeringly complete wine, with epic presence in the glass. 19.5/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

Descendant 2023

Descended from RunRig, and made from Shiraz and Viognier, this is always a spectacular wine, and it usually packs an extraordinary perfume. The cooler 2023 has heightened the aromatics to an extraordinarily penetrative level, and you can smell the spice, pepper, and iodine from a foot away! This is, without doubt, one of the most Olympic perfumes of all time. In addition, the acidity is high-tensile, and the chassis shows more rigidity and coolness throughout. And then there are the tannins that rake at the dirt like bullocks straining to be unleashed. And yet, with all this drama, the palate is pristine, alluring, hypnotic and evisceratingly cool. 19.5/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Pict 2023

Made from century-old Mataro fruit from Greenock, this is a remarkable The Pict with an incredible perfume and a magnificent palate. It was picked a little earlier than usual, with the aim of not letting it take on the same shape as a Shiraz while retaining its unique Mourvèdre silhouette. The nose is awesome, purple, peppercorn-soaked and vanilla-kissed. The finish has such lift and brightness; it is remarkable. I love this The Pict, and it makes me think of classical Parisian waiter service, waxed moustaches, starched whites, and dramatic décor, with huge wine glasses and a perfect, generous pour. Now let’s take a look at the menu! Part theatrical, part classical, and effortlessly elegant, this is a mightily classy Mourvèdre, and it sits at the peak of this grape’s international pile! 19+/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Gask 2024

The Gask is the Eden Valley Old Vine Shiraz in the collection, and it is a hedonistic and spicy wine, a full-frontal assault on all we know about elite Eden Shiraz, but at a much more affordable price! It comes from high-altitude, stony, dry land laden with rocks and mineral deposits. And guess what, this wine is Asterix’s magic potion in the glass, with Obelix’s menhir’s forming the immovable power source in The Gask’s core. Velvety, cooling, bright, and bloody, but also phenomenally exotic and rose petal-soaked, this is an amazing wine, and it is likely to put an Eden Valley aficionado on high alert! 19/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

Hillside Vineyard Grenache 2024

Pure, clean, and aromatic, with rhubarb and cherries that trampoline on your tongue, there is white-wine freshness on the finish that makes this beautiful Grenache sing. Planted in 1951, this terraced vineyard, packed with bush vines, is dry-grown, and while the very best picks end up in this Hillside wine, the other two parts go to Steading, which is the reason The Steading is such a mighty creation. Only 350 cases were made, and it is pure, lifted and gorgeously expressive. 18.5/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Struie 2024

Made from 70% Barossa and 30% Eden Valley Shiraz, this is a stunningly deep and cool wine, with wells of dark fruit and a sleek feel throughout. The black-ink hue, with purple fruit, punctuated by dry spices, and with an incredibly long finish, this is an erudite The Struie, and the balance and class here are world-class. This is certainly one of the longest and most elegant The Struie I have tasted. While the overall theme is elegance, the finish is rigid and commanding, guaranteeing a long life ahead here. 19+/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Steading 2024

he Steading is a 57% Grenache, 33% Shiraz, and 10% Mataro blend, and it is another vintage in a run of stellar wines under this label. With more weight, darkness and power than the beautiful 2023, this is a purple-fruit-soaked wine with an extraordinary stance on the palate, and the aura here is of a very grand wine, and it is always a bargain price! With 5000 cases made, this suave creation is absolutely extraordinary, and I cannot recommend it enough. 19/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

The Steading Blanc 2025

This time, the top white wine at Torbreck is sourced from vineyards with clay in the mix. 53% Roussanne, 45% Marsanne, and 2% Viognier are carefully blended to create a fabulous, sensationally clean, and stunningly resonant wine. Sitting at only 12.5% alcohol, The Steading Blanc is a glorious ‘white Rhône blend’, and the only downside is that only 350 cases of 12 bottles were made! I cannot remember tasting a more layered and yet so brightly fruited and perfumed white blend! Vivacious, refreshing and with a good few years in the tank, this is going to amaze allcomers when it hits the market, and I imagine it will only improve and mellow over the coming five years. 19/20

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Matthew Jukes
MATTHEWJUKES.COM

Cuvée Juveniles Blanc 2025

Juicy, grainy, and teasing, this 40% Marsanne, 32% Roussanne, 10% Clairette, 17% Grenache Blanc, and 1% Viognier is drawn from sandy, mainly hillside vineyards, and it sees a variety of old barrels, new oak, and steel for a brisk 4 months, and then it is bottled. This is a fabulous wine, more defined and silkier, with more fruit volume than any Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc I have ever tasted. It is beautiful. 17.5/20