This week it’s my partners birthday, and I had every intention of taking him out to dinner, but he asked that I cook for him instead. I feel like this is a big compliment, despite my initial disappointment in losing my excuse to go out for a nice meal. So I decided if I was to cook for his birthday, it would be a feast to remember along with a wine to remember: the Soumah Pinot Noir. So I set about creating a Mediterranian menu and in typical fashion ended up making way too much food. Luckily I was able to wrangle some friends to help out!

I went a little overboard with the planning which extended to finding the perfect wine. Sure, we have plenty of bottles on hand I could have opened, but of course, I wanted an excuse to go to the bottle store and pick something out especially for the evening. You see we’d just been to a wine course the night before and I was feeling all inspired for food and wine pairings. Realistically I’ll just take any excuse to go and browse the wine aisles. I have a problem.

The Soumah Pinot Noir: perfect with Mediterranian

I decided on a Pinot Noir because I’ve heard it goes quite well with Mediterranian food. I honestly hadn’t tried this combination before. Normally when I’m feeling fancy enough to pair wine it is usually with Italian food. So I was keen to give it a go. The problem I find with Pinot Noir is that there are so many options. It’s really hard to know what is going to be good. Pinot Noir is one of those varieties that you usually need to pay top dollar to get a decent one (a special case is this one here). I was in the market for something in the mid-range which is really hit and miss.

Our local bottle store has some really interesting wines and stock a lot from Victoria. Wines from Victoria hold a special place in my heart as I lived there for a year, so when I saw The Soumah Pinot Noir 2018 from the Yarra Valley I figured it was worth a shot. I’m always willing to take a gamble on Victorian wines!

Why I loved it

On the shelf, the Soumah Pinot Noir had the makings of a good wine, which was why I chose it. Being from the Yarra Valley, it was grown in a cooler climate, which is perfect for Pinot Noir. It was also a really decent price for a Pinot Noir, coming in around $25 for a bottle. I get a little sceptical spending less than $20 on Pinot Noir because it is generally more expensive, unfortunately! So it was ticking all the boxes, and I decided it was worth giving a shot. I took it home and chucked it in the fridge.

The great thing about Pinot is that you can serve it chilled, which is perfect for Brisbane weather. Usually, it’s too hot for me to drink red in summer, so Pinot Noir is the perfect way to enjoy red without being overpowered and getting what I sometimes refer to as the ‘red sweats’.

The Soumah Pinot Noir is showing some great flavours for its young age. If I hadn’t been so desperate for a Pinot that night, I might have kept it for a few years to give it a little age, but honestly, for a light wine, it is drinking well now. It has the typical savoury notes of a Pinot Noir on the nose but was quite pleasantly fruity to drink. I liked this as sometimes I find Pinot too savoury for me when I drink it, but this was perfect. It didn’t have much acidity so it was quite subtle in flavour, but it did linger for a long time after you drank it. Overall the Soumah Pinot Noir went down all too easily with a great balance of flavour that was soft and left you going back for more.

What to enjoy it with

The Soumah Pinot Noir 2018 goes perfectly with Mediterranian food. I was hoping to enjoy this with a lamb dish I made for dinner. It was such a good wine that we polished it off with the entree! That was ok though because the entree was a mezze platter with bread, dips, olives and cheese. I found this wine was the perfect accompaniment to this sort of food as it was light.

Because of how light and soft this wine is, I think it would also be best paired with light dishes, so it was almost better we moved on to Shiraz for our lamb dish. Think chicken, pork and light, fresh salads. This wine isn’t going to cut through a heavy meat dish!

If you’re going to try this wine, I really recommend drinking it chilled. It was absolutely delicious and I found it amplified the flavours. It made for a really refreshing drink, and our bottle was emptied far too quickly for my liking!

The final word

The Soumah Pinot Noir 2018 could easily be aged but is also drinking well now. It is the perfect wine to have chilled with a refreshing palate and soft flavours. And for those that love Pinot Noir but don’t love the price tag, it is a really decent price for a decent wine!

If you enjoy heavier reds, this wine isn’t for you. It is subtle and light, so perfect before dinner or with something light. These sorts of wines are perfect for the last few days of Summer we have, best enjoyed with friends who guaranteed will help you finish off a bottle of this far too quickly!