Varietals: Chardonnay

Clone: Mendosa

Yeast: Wild

Oak Age: 27% New

Harvest: 8 March 2018

Be at Harvest: 12.1

pH at Harvest: 3.32

TA at Harvest: 6.2

 

The Mendosa clone creates rich, elegant Chardonnay and we selected this for our first Equilibrio. The wine is opulent, generous and composed with good oak integration all wound together with a citrus and nectarine, creamy freshness.

The concept behind our Equilibrio range is to promote the very best barrels, clonal mix and new oak integration to create a few cases that will benchmark the potential of each vintage. Some would call it Reserve but we call it Equilibrio as great wine is all about harmony and balance.

[2019 Vintage] – 94 Points by Campbell Mattinson, 2021 Halliday Wine Companion

[2018 Vintage] – ‘Best in Show’ and Platinum (97 Points) at 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards

[2018 Vintage] – 97 Points by Nick Butler, April 2020 The Real Review

[2018 Vintage] – 97 Points by Stuart Knox, March 2020 The Real Review

[2018 Vintage] – Silver Medal (90 Points) at 2019 Victorian Wine Show

[2018 Vintage] – Silver Medal (90 Points) at 2019 International Wine and Spirit Competition

[2018 Vintage] – Bronze Medal at 2019 Decanter Asia Wine Awards

[2018 Vintage] – Silver Medal at 2019 Perth Royal Wine Show

[2018 Vintage] – 93 Points by James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion 2020

[2018 Vintage] – Silver Medal at 2019 Melbourne International Wine Show

[2018 Vintage] – Silver Medal at 2019 WineWise Small Vigneron Awards

[2017 Vintage] – Best White Wine, Top Gold Medal (96 Points) at International Cool Climate Wine Show 2019

[2017 Vintage] – Gold Medal at 2018 James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge

[2017 Vintage] – Gold Medal at 2018 Victorian Wine Show

[2017 Vintage] – Gold Medal at 2018 Yarra Valley Wine Show

[2017 Vintage] – Gold Medal at 2018 Perth Royal Wine Awards

[2017 Vintage] – Best White Wine Trophy & Platinum Medal at 2018 Japan Wine Challenge

[2017 Vintage] – Gold Medal (96 Points) at 2018 Decanter World Wine Awards

[2017 Vintage] – Gold Medal at Winewise Small Vigneron Awards

[2017 Vintage] – 96 Points by James Halliday, 2019 Halliday Wine Companion

[2017 Vintage] – 95 Points by Huon Hooke, 2019 The Real Review

[2017 Vintage] – 94 Points by Campbell Mattinson, 2019 The Wine Front

[2017 Vintage] – Silver Medal (94 Points) at 2018 Sydney Royal Wine Show

[2017 Vintage] – Bronze Medal at 2018 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards

2018 VINTAGE A dry winter led into a gentle early spring. A very hot November hastened flowering into an abnormally wet December (5 inches more rain than normal). This rain and heat brought humidity but also delivered an abundant water table for the developing berries. December seemed to rain itself out and late summer was dry (3.5 inches less rain than normal), making for a calm harvest. Picking times were mostly normal, fruit were fleshy and juicy with attractive varietal characters. VITICULTURE & WINEMAKING The concept behind our Equilibrio range is to promote the very best barrels, clonal mix and new oak integration to create a few cases that will benchmark the potential of each vintage. Some would call it Reserve but we call it Equilibrio as great wine is all about harmony and balance. The Mendosa clone creates rich, elegant Chardonnay and we selected this for our first Equilibrio. The wine is opulent, generous and composed with good oak integration all wound together with a citrus and nectarine, creamy freshness. TASTING Nuances of white flower, vanilla and grapefruit combine on the nose with undertones of struck match and toasted hazelnuts. The palate is still youthful with great persistence and tight minerality and is showing excellent structure with fine balance. This wine will evolve over many years to come. PAIRING Spanner crab tagliatelle with pangrattato or freshly cooked crayfish with butter sauce.

“It’s a soft chardonnay with creamy, leesy characters as the palate’s main calling card before its zestier, zippier side takes over through the finish. Mellifluous for the most past, rushed with energy thereafter. Elegant. Price the main challenge. 94 Points”
Campbell Mattinson, Halliday Wine Companion, August 2020 (2019 Vintage)

“A selection of the Hexham Vineyard in Gruyere, this is effectively a selection of the best barrels in a vintage. The nose has a very striking, reductive edge that sits in the right zone, all wet stones and flint. There’s lemon and white peach, as well as clotted cream. The palate is powerful with intense lemon and peach-cream flavors and some gently toasted nuts through the finish. Drink or hold.94 Points.”
JamesSuckling.com, October 2020 (2018 Vintage)

“Among all of the different regions where Chardonnay has impressed in Australia, the Yarra is perhaps the one where the fruit itself charms most readily from the off. This steel-green wine carries its oak very lightly, and the fruit sings out: nectarine, peach and dessert apple all draw the drinker into the glass. On the palate, the wine is soft, tender, almost juicy: its perfect ripeness apparent in that limpidity of expression, and in the seamless incorporation of vibrant and rounded acidity into a natural and succulent poise. The oak, once again, is almost invisible: a swelling of tone rather than flavour. The only danger with deliciousness of this order is that you might be tempted to drink it all too quickly. Fine quality raw materials suggest there’s no hurry here. ‘Best in Show’ 97 Points.”
Decanter World Wine Awards, September 2020 (2018 Vintage)

“A complex, instantly striking nose of smoky sulfides, lemon rind, white nectarines and lovely, nutty oak. There’s a mineral glide to the palate, it’s softly-textured, ethereal and brisk, with cool-climate acidity driving the finish. A stunning wine. 97 Points”
Nick Butler, The Review Review, April 2020 (2018 Vintage)

“Touch of smoke over crisp apple fruit. That crispness carries across the palate with great acid drive, layers of smoke, roast nuts and a touch of ripe pear keeping interest high. Line and length carry long and a pleasing nuttiness lingers long afterwards. 97 Points”
Stuart Knox, The Review Review, March 2020 (2018 Vintage)

“An attractively complex chardonnay showing custard apple notes with hints of sulphidic funkiness. The palate offers good weight and balance.”
Winewise, September 2019 (2018 Vintage)

“Sweeter riper fruit and more obvious oak in this vintage and that accentuates the florals, poached quince and stone fruit. Creamy lees and lots of texture add to the richness and it’s ultimately a satisfying drink. Best in its youth. 93 Points.”
Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion, August 2019 (2018 Vintage)

“Wow what a cracker wine- big blousy bouquet with nectarines & a hint of peach, on the palate it is sumptuous, creamy, beautifully balanced with masses of tight flavours 7 a crispy refreshing finish- TRULY DIVINE!!”
Dan Traucki, August 2019 (2018 Vintage)

“Soumah’s first-release Equilibrio sits at the plush end of the chardonnay spectrum, offering no beg-pardons for hugely opulent fruit and assertive barrel-derived flavours… Soumah provides pure, sensuous drinking pleasure way beyond the everyday. The maker says the wine’s blended from the best barrels of chardonnay made from the Mendosa clone, noted for its richness.”
Chris Shanahan, Sept 2019 (2017 Vintage)

“Ultra-elegant and refined, this quietly complex wine opens with nectarine and grapefruit aromas, almond brittle and hard toffee notes, a smoky hint of sulfide. It’s an elaborate nose, but harmoniously so. The palate is juicy and seamless with a lingering smoky finish. Lovely wine. 96 Points.”
Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Real Review, May 2019 (2017 Vintage)

“2017 Soumah of Yarra Valley Equilibrio Chardonnay Aromas of white peach and grapefruit are enhanced by a touch of funky complexity, and the palate is long and structured, with a very pleasing textural quality. ($77.00) ★★★★☆”
2018 Winewise Small Vignerons Awards (2017 Vintage)

“Fonts of a tiny size running every which way on the large, busy front and back labels allowed me to ascertain the clone is Mendoza. This whinge to one side, the wine does full justice to the excellent vintage, with white peach and grapefruit a familiar but ever-enjoyable repartee between them.”
Halliday Wine Companion 2019 – ‘James Halliday’s Wow Factor Whites’ (2017 Vintage)

“Pleasantly nutty bouquet, with a trace of toast: gunflinty and youthful. It’s tight and medium-bodied, firm and dry, the finish clean and refreshing, very long and more-ish. A wine of excellent concentration which is very young and will improve greatly with a little cellar-time. A smashing chardonnay.”
Huon Hooke – ‘2019 The Real Review’ (2017 Vintage)

“This isn’t the first SOUMAH wine released under the Equilibrio name but I suspect that it’s the first Equilibrio Chardonnay. It’s not the most flamboyant of chardonnays but it’s cool, textural length is most impressive. It’s straw-coloured, blessed with nectarine and white peach flavour, shows hand-in-glove spicy oak and carries the odd crackle of both flint and mineral. It feels juicy and well-ripened throughout, without being pushed. It has tension without being overtly tense. In short it’s in a very good place.”
Campbell Mattinson – ‘2019 The Wine Front’ (2017 Vintage)