Thoughts From the Soumah Team

When I thought about writing a summary of what was achieved in 2019, being new to the team, I wasn’t sure what would be on the list. Of course, there are the obvious things but sharing this thought with the rest of the crew, we had a lot of fun thinking back over the past months. Across the board, from the weather gods treating us kindly to the return of some of our (and your) favourite wines, it has been a remarkable year of growth and change. For me, my first ten months has been a fantastic period to learn more about how wine is made, how a farm works and the running of an efficient hospitality business. I hope you enjoy perusing this list as much as I have had preparing it!  ~ Amanda, Marketing Manager  (Pictured from L-R: TJ, Jane, Paul, Brett, Tim, Bela, Dmitri and Scott)

In the Vineyard

• We can safely (and proudly) say, 2019 is the best vintage the winery has ever seen. With the combination of all the correct flowering, perfect climate conditions, the small berries with concentrated flavours, we experienced exemplary results.
• Do you recall the rainfall this past winter and spring? For the first time since 2011, all our dams filled with rainwater.
• Nurturing our new plantings of Pinot Grigio, Brachetto and Chardonnay will ensure the future of our brand.

Property Developments

• Our new storage shed (you’ll see it on the right as you drive towards our cellar door on Hexham Rd) is 24 x 18 metres and can house up to 400 pallets of wine!
• The Ville d’Soumah extension will be complete in early 2020. We have added a fourth bedroom to the property which showcases an incredible view of the northside of our vineyard. The undercover outdoor entertaining area has been extended and includes a beautiful stone fireplace. To make a reservation enquiry for 2020, click here.
• You may have noticed we get busy! To accommodate our visitors at those popular times, we have a new relaxed outdoor bar area.
• More visitors mean a busier kitchen. Chef Paul and his team have been treated to a kitchen extension, which not only makes prep more efficient, it also allows catering for larger groups.

Events Galore!

• Our Premium Wine Room hosted more events and private wine tastings than before. We conducted six Masterclass events, which typically take place the third weekend of the month, on both Saturday and Sunday. We’ll let you know about our 2020 Masterclass Series via email in the New Year. Are you on our mailing list? If not, sign-up here.
• This year we introduced degustation lunches on the last Sunday of each month. We plan to make these lunches are regular monthly occurrence, beginning Feb 2020. Event dates will be on our website and emailed in our newsletters.
• Our Members benefited from exclusive invitation-only events this year, including the Blooms & Blends day in November. This was a unique and fun way to get hands-on at Soumah, with a tour of the vineyard, a guided tasting and then blending and bottling their own custom wine – with personalised wine labels!

The Wine

• We were thrilled to be award recipients at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards. Our 2017 Equilibrio Pinot Noir received a Platinum Medal (97 Points) – you can still purchase this from our cellar door or online here — and our 2017 Hexham Pinot Noir received Gold (95 Points).
• After a three-year hiatus, Brachetto Frizzante returned with new packaging; a deserved update for our sweet and bubbly wine who’s a favourite at special events.
• Our classic Italian blend, Tutto Bianco was released this October. Last seen in 2016, this new blend of Savagnin, Chardonnay, Viognier and Pinot Grigio has produced a crisp and refreshing dry white — we hope you are enjoying this one!
• New to the line-up is our 2018 d’Soumah Nebbiolo Barbera; a blend of two north western Italian varieties. It’s red, it’s Italian and it’s what we love and do best. On tasting now so we encourage you to give it a try.

And now onto Vintage 2020…