Matthew Jukes: We don’t just mourn, we hurt

Matthew Jukes, the Michael McIntyre of wine, died suddenly this week. He was in Australia, judging wine in Sydney, just last week; he was only 58; he was larger than life, always; he'd been a constant in the wine lives of many of us for as long as many of us could remember. His death was not mere news; it was the kind of news that needed to be triple checked, such was its unlikelihood. I read of his death three times before I believed it. I've read of his death a hundred times now and yet, even so, I'm no closer to accepting.
I didn't know Matthew Jukes as well as other people in Australian wine did. I knew his work. I knew his reputation. I knew of his closeness to @tyson_stelzer. I knew that he was richly British, inexhaustibly upbeat, and that he had a depth to his knowledge that was both rare and enviable.
And I knew, most of all, that he loved Australia, Australians and Australian wine, and that Australia, Australians and Australian wine loved him right back.
For this final reason, on top of so much more, his passing is not just a shock. It's a tragedy. Australian wine has lost an ally, a friend, a champion. We don't just mourn; we hurt.