WINE AWARDS

WINE AWARDS

And many are horrendous. I open them and think, “Urgh...” I own a pub and I think I know a bit about wine, but I automatically assume the best is the most expensive, which it’s not.’ Matthew Jukes agrees. ‘The high street is a dangerous place to window shop because there are so many awful wines out there. I find it’s about a two per cent hit rate these days, which is shocking.’ He believes the quality has only been made worse by the pandemic. ‘Covid has meant supermarket tasting teams have been unable to travel to tastings at the vineyards, so they’re just reordering. Therefore their wine choices are becoming boring and lower in quality,’ he says. ‘But the wines in our awards are the best of the best in the supermarkets – and they range from just £6 a bottle.’

For example, Matthew offers

Sir Ian, Jodie, Michael (centre), Matthew and Emma during the Zoom tasting