SOUMAH Upper Ngumby Chardonnay 2024
- 94
- $52
- Drink by: 2025-2030
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One of my favourite Chardonnay descriptors has long been warm, stretched Blu-Tack—strange to some but a core memory from old school days. This quality I often associate with some of my most cherished sites in Burgundy. Here, it arrives in abundance, offering a nostalgic and unmistakable expression of the wine’s mineral core. Aromas of white seashells, chalk dust, and lemon pith weave through, joined by cider apples and white flowers. The palate extends along long, vivid lines of acidity, with fleeting moments of green melon and almond milk at its centre. Oak contributes gentle creaminess and softened edges, wrapping everything neatly together. This is a magnified portrait of the Upper Ngumby site, and a fascinating wine to both taste and ponder. It calls for whiting fillets, pan-fried with lemon, alongside a cool cucumber salad. Drink now or will cellar further for another 4-5 years.
Shanteh cut her teeth at Sydney’s Award-Winning Quay restaurant where she worked for over a decade and was Head Sommelier from 2018 till 2022. She has been nominated for the Good Food Guide Sommelier of the Year award on three occasions and claims that her experience as a Len Evans scholar as one of the highlights of her career. Shanteh hosts her own weekly podcast ‘Over A Glass’ with the Deep in the Weeds Network and spends her time writing for various publications and judging at numerous wine shows across the country.
