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At the age of seven, Matthew Jukes began working as a wine server, greeting visitors to his parents’ home in Brussels with glasses of Veuve Clicquot champagne.

Then, he discovered himself pouring a white German Riesling, followed by a red Volnay from Burgundy. He was allowed to take a secret taste of each.

It caused him to rush to the bookshelf. “I became a bit of a Boy Scout and pulled out the atlas, finding it fascinating that you could have three very different beverages from across the globe,” he remembered later. “It sparked a strong interest in wine.”

That early curiosity, that desire to learn about wine, might not have instantly sparked what would later become a lifelong enthusiasm – there was initially a plan to become an astrophysicist.

However, Matthew ultimately became one of Britain’s most active and significant specialists.

His unexpected passing during a vacation in Portugal at the age of 58 has stunned an industry where he was a true superstar. Over a remarkable 40-year career, he took on various roles including critic, writer, columnist, broadcaster, wine purchaser, businessman, and charity organizer.

A talented speaker with a contagious passion, he also made waves among wine lovers by daring to introduce his own alcohol-free alternative drink.

The Daily Mail team was deeply saddened by his sudden and tragic death. For 21 years, his weekly column, first featured in the Saturday section and later in the Weekend magazine, was a must-read.

The Mail featured his first major book, and when we introduced our highly successful wine club, Matthew was the key figure behind it, offering his refined classic selections and fresh finds to our knowledgeable readers.

His talent lay in expressing the idea that drinking wine is one of life’s enjoyable experiences. He had no patience for the pretentiousness and fake sophistication that tried to connect wine consumption with high culture. He considered it his goal to make wine more understandable while searching for budget-friendly options.

This democratic style enabled him to identify discounted gems, leading readers worldwide in the search for value and new experiences, encouraging us to embrace that endless curiosity. His selection of 40 top wines for Christmas became an essential part of our holiday coverage.

He expressed himself with grace and without pretension – one week he might be guiding readers through the rich wines of Bordeaux, and the next he would praise the excellence of boxed wine (convenient, affordable, and delicious, he stated in one such piece).

Readers accompanied him from his cherished Australia, where he was celebrated as the Crocodile Dundee of wines in the region, to California, South America, and the Norfolk Broads.

Indeed, those Norfolk Broads in East Anglia, where he discovered a white wine from the Winbirri vineyard located east of Norwich. He was an advocate for English and Welsh wines without ever overlooking classic selections from France and Italy.

He also enjoyed suggesting Fairtrade wines, as their purchase supported worthwhile initiatives – and readers of the Daily Mail showed remarkable generosity.

His skill involved an exceptional photographic memory along with a highly sensitive sense of taste. Other wine enthusiasts could only be amazed by his ability to enter a room with 100 wines arranged, taste each one, and then describe each wine accurately.

While most people would prefer to do nothing more than rest in a dimly lit room, Matthew could and would conduct another tasting from the start,” recalls a fellow critic. “And he wasn’t pretentious because he was equally skilled at evaluating supermarket wines.

However, for that schoolboy genius who first created the drinks he served to his parents’ adult friends, Jukesy could have followed a completely different path.

Following his time at the Catholic Oratory School near Reading, Matthew, who was born in Basingstoke, secured a spot at Queen Mary College in London but left after just one term.

It was 1987, and in the year following the Big Bang, the newly freed City of London was generating wealth for bankers and brokers, while the world of premium wine underwent significant changes.

Matthew, who was 19 at the time, started working at the Barnes Wine Shop, located just south of Hammersmith Bridge, where he was mentored by consultant James Rogers, known for his exceptionally keen sense of taste.

There were blind tastings involving up to 100 wines each week, and the apprentice was required to work six days a week. “It was a valuable experience,” says fellow trainee Katie Macauley. “Matthew appeared very refined—he had his own apartment and drove a convertible Triumph.”

He subsequently relocated to a champagne bar in the City, where he offered en primeur wines to banks. Within a year, he was working at Bibendum, the Michelin-starred restaurant in South Kensington, where Princess Diana frequently dined. He served as the wine buyer until the establishment closed in 2016.

His dual career as an author and media personality involved presenting the Channel 4 program Wine Hunt. In 2001, he started his column in the Daily Mail, where he was among the first to promote ‘wine pairing’ with meals.

He seldom took a breath. When he wasn’t mentoring the next wave of wine experts, he was on the move—Australia and its wines had a significant impact on him. The feeling was reciprocal. He was honored with the 2012 Honorary Australian of the Year award.

During the pandemic, he founded a business that creates non-alcoholic wine, Jukes Cordialities. Sacha Lichine, the individual responsible for introducing Whispering Angel to the global market, was a backer.

Tragically, Matthew leaves behind his wife, Amelia, two sons who are nine and seven years old, along with two daughters from a previous relationship.

Today, the Australia High Commission located on The Strand will lower a flag to half-mast, honoring the ordinary individual known as Jukesy.

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