There’s a style shift happening in local Chardonnay, and it’s very welcome. After years of the needle shifting too far into ‘acidic grapefruit and milk bottle water’ territory, there’s a feeling that ripeness levels have lifted a little more into ‘actual fruit’ territory.
Wines like this Soumah Single Vineyard Hexham Chardonnay 2023 is today’s evidence. Just a few vintages ago, I was marking it down for being a bit light on intensity and ‘very elegant’ (the 2016), but this 2023 version is proper plump.
Full, although not thick, it has some toasted peach juiciness and a certain low acid flow. It’s a bit creamy, a bit golden, although the finish is taut and grapefruity in a modern Yarra ‘malo is no good’ mode.
In some ways, it’s a simple mouthful, but that also discounts the rightness of the flavour here—it just flows on through with intensity and appeal. Really enjoyable drinking.
18.5/20, 94/100. 13.3%, $48.
Also from the Soumah pile:
Soumah Hexham Single Vineyard Syrah 2023
Possibly the best Soumah Syrah yet. Spicy Rhone sausage highlights with cranberry and just a little charcuterie, bacon fat hints, and peppercorns. Yells Syrah! Ripe but not overt, and plenty buzzy acidity. Delicious! Just needs a little more tannins for absolute greatness. Lovely plush texture too.
18/20, 93/100. 13.5%, $42.
Soumah U’Ngumby Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2023
Waxy milk bottle lolly sulphides milkiness, and it feeds in nicely to a palate of some layers. There is a chomp of white peach through the middle, a vanilla bean ice cream oak richness, and then a lemony malic acid crunch. It is really rather enjoyable in its flourish, only edged out by the slightly more complete Hexham Vineyard wine.
18/20, 93/100. 13.1%, $48.
Soumah Nebbiolo 2021
Correct Yarra Nebbiolo. It has the coppery colour Nebbiolo highlights, has the tar and roses and terracotta too. There’s a dusty caramel element here that is just a bit distracting – a barrel signature, no doubt – but the whole package feels considered in a very Nebbiolo way. Medium weight, medium tannins, plenty lovely enough, maybe a little gritty rather than lively, but really quite good.
17.7/20, 92/100. 14%, $56.
Soumah Hexham Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
Ripe and red fruited with lots of raspberries, Has a candied sort of red lolly red frog edge and even some musk before a rounded palate. Generous going. It has some understory complexity, but is a pretty primary wine. Drinkable though.
17.7/20, 92/100. 13.5%, $48.
Soumah Hexham Single Vineyard Viognier 2023
She opulent! Chunky apricot flavour aplenty. It’s slightly warm and has some phenolic crunch and creamy lines in there too. The warmth is just a bit distracting, but the opulence is excellent. Gingery generous apricot flavours are entirely enjoyable and really plays a strong Viognier hand.
17.7/20, 92/100. 14.25%, $38.
Soumah Marzemino 2023
Marzemino is an interesting grape, but I’ll never think about how much better it works as a sweet wine. Bright purple, red, and astonishing colour and flavour for 12.8% in this Yarra version, though, even if you can’t hide the black bitterness. Dark cherry, some glossy purpleness, plenty of purple inky blackberry, and a pithy high acid finish before the bitterness comes late. You wouldn’t call this an easy wine, but it does have tang and character. There is a nice contrast between gloss and bitterness, too.
17.5/20, 91/100. 12.8%, $38.
Soumah Nebbiolo Barbera 2023
Yarra Valley & King Valley fruit for this wine, all tobacco leaf and unripe cherry. It’s leafy and gentle, a pretty fragrant wine of minimal oak influence, lithe acidity and dark cherry lightness. A bit bony and hardly varietal and ultimately a bit sharp edged. A wet year wine. Energy, yes, but a bit sour and lean for real love.
16.5/20, 88/100. 13.2%, $33.
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