JamieOliver.com

the skinners

Fri 14 Dec 2007 17:17 Last week Mr Matt Skinner, his lovely wife Carly and their beautiful daughter Indi moved back to Australia. Matt was the Wine Manager at 15 London. I asked Matt to come over from Melbourne, Australia to help me set up Fifteen over 5 years ago. He has been an absolute integral part in helping me reach my vision with the Foundation. A lot of what I have achieved with Fifteen is down to Matt’s friendship, support and absolute excellence in the wine scene.

Everyone over here loves him as a person and thinks that he is a great talent, and let's be honest, in 5 years he has achieved a great deal with the books that he has written on wine. Matt also writes regular columns in various newspapers and does consultancy work and as far as moving to England for 5 years he has really cleaned up and I am really proud of him.

He is going to be sorely missed but going to his hometown of Melbourne with his lovely family and this is the right thing to do. Everyone at Fifteen and everyone that I know that knows him sends Matt, Carly and Indie all of their love. Matt will be contributing to JO.com every month so watch out for his wine reviews from down under. Check out his first review which is of 5 tried and tested wines that we serve at Fifteen in London.

Love Jamie Oxxx

Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV
Champagne, France

Boasting some of the largest vineyards holdings in some of the most sought after areas of Champagne, the team at Roederer are fanatical about quality; there aim to produce the best possible wine they can – and long before they consider the bubbles. Stylish and full of finesse, Brut Premier has been the house Champagne at Fifteen since day one.

Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay 2005
Adelaide Hills, Australia

Among the examples flying the flag for Australia’s new breed of Chardonnay, Shaw & Smith M3 is a controlled, elegant and very deliberate attempt to create pure, textured, age worthy Chardonnay that you don’t need to use a knife and fork on.

Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2005
Martinborough, New Zealand

Ata Rangi’s wines are magically crafted, layered, complex, and built to go the distance. Watching them unwind in the glass is amazing. From bright dark cherry and plum like fruit to smells of earth, spice and truffle, these are consistently amongst our favourite wines in the world.

Allegrini Amarone 2003
Valpolicella, Italy

Producing great Amarone is a tough assignment, but the results can be spellbinding. Allegrini are one of the true stars of Italian wine and produce a clean deeply concentrated modern style of Amarone where ripe plum/cherry combines with dried fruit, spice and bitter chocolate character.

Fontodi Chianti Classico Reserva Vigna del Sorbo 2001
Tuscany, Italy

When it comes to attention to detail in the world of wine, Giovani Manetti is your man. His Tuscan estate, Fontodi is amongst the finest in Italy, and its Manetti’s efforts in the vineyard that put him head and shoulders above the rest. Vingna del Sorbo is a reserve version (drawing on the estates best parcels of fruit) of the standard Fontodi Chianti Classico. Think dark Morello cherry, leather, aniseed, tobacco, and super well integrated cedary oak.