It’s a Soumah red, but unlike the other Soumah reds. ‘One of these things is doing its own thing’.

Usually, Spumah wines are about lightness and brightness, But The Butcher? It’s different. Bolder. Bigger. Unformed. But not uninteresting.

This Soumah The Butcher Thomas Hendy Cut Syrah Cabernet Merlot 2021 is a blend of Yarra & Heathcote fruit, where ‘Syrah delivers the fruit, Cabernet infusing a savoury focus and Nebbiolo bringing it all together with an elegant structure’.

The elegant structure may be wine back label salad, but what a fascinating blend.

Thick with berries in alcohol, it’s a halfway bet – you can see the cool clime spice and mediumness, but with this dry and heavy end. There’s potent black fruit with a tarry blackness that feels a bit creaky and cedary with its alcohol, sweet vanilla oak jabs, raw acidity and grainy tannins. There are layers of savoury pepper beef Syrah, even if it feels like a battle with the heftier components.

This is ultimately a little compromised, but there’s an intensity here, and it has absolute heart and it has charisma.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: give it a decade
• Score (out of 20): 17.5
• Score (out of 100): 86
• Alcohol %: 14
• RRP (in $AUD): 50
• Winery website: https://soumah.com.au/
• Would I buy it?: a glass for interest