Matthew Jukes passes away

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 07 August, 2026

Influential UK wine writer Matthew Jukes died on Thursday (6 August) in Portugal, aged 58.

Matthew, whose award-winning career spanned journalism, judging, authoring books and presenting wine events, is understood to have passed away suddenly while on holiday with his family.

His career was long and multi-faceted, beginning in 1987 when he started working in the Barnes Wine Shop in London under the tutelage of consultant James Rogers. From there, Matthew moved into buying for Bibendum Restaurant & Oyster Bar in Brompton Cross, a position he held from 1990 to 2016, where his wine list won multiple plaudits, which in turn helped launch his reputation more widely.

During the mid-90s Matthew also opened his own wine bar, The Crescent, a stone’s throw away from Bibendum, which boasted a fantastic list. This period witnessed the launch of the legendary ‘Bille, Bolly’ parties, which brought these two Champagne Houses together for a generous celebration of their wines.

A weekly radio slot for the BBC followed, sparking the beginning of his journalistic career, which seriously took off after the Daily Mail serialised his first of many books – The Wine Book. This led to the offer of a wine column in the Daily Mail, which Matthew wrote with compelling gusto for over 22 years, reaching up to nine million readers a week.

More recently, Matthew wrote a column for Money Week, plus a weekly column for Vineyard Magazine, while also populating his own website, including the free Wednesday Wines content.

Matthew also developed a successful series of regional and country wine reports, beginning with his 100 Best Australian Wines (which led to a popular and long-lived 100 Best roadshow), and covering the likes of Bordeaux En Primeur, Burgundy and Piemonte.

Jukes Cordialities were another string to his bow; a range of alcohol free yet 'vinous' wine alternatives which he launched and succesfully distributed into many high end restaurants and similar, with Sacha Lichine of Whispering Angel fame recently coming aboard as an investor.

However, Matthew will perhaps be best remembered for championing Australian wines – an interest that was born of a series of early (and lively) trips, travelling with this editor, where he fully recognised both the quality of wines emerging from Australia, plus the dearth of serious international coverage of the best of Down Under.

His work in promoting, educating and writing on Australian wine led to the bestowing of the Honorary Australian of the Year Award by the Australia Day Foundation in 2012. This crowned a slew of other awards for his journalism and related work which Matthew accrued over the years.

Matthew gave back, too, being a keen supporter of homeless charities. Most notably, he was the patron and founder of Touch Wine, which raised monies for homeless people in Adelaide in South Australia’s wine country, and which inspired similar projects in Victoria, New South Wales and Canberra.

Matthew leaves behind his wife Amelia and boys Rollo and Victor, as well as his older daughters Isadora and Elspeth.

‘Jukesy’, as he was fondly known, will be much missed by many in the wine world, with details of a memorial service to be announced soon.

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