Grape expectations: Back to basics
Continuing our series on wine varieties, this month we look at syrah... or is that shiraz?
This is the third in a series of features focusing on grape varieties. I am examining several of the major grapes to see how they can benefit sales of wine in pubs.
There is nothing worse than going into a pub, ordering a bottle of red wine to share for the next hour and getting something so heavy it puts you off for life. In the same way when a customer wants a fruity, crisp white wine, it is important to make sure that is what they are given. The full extent of the opportunity that exists with wine is only just being seen.
It is all about providing the right wine for the right occasion and hopefully this series of articles will help strike this balance.
Having already looked at cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, this month it is the turn of a grape known by two names: syrah… or is that shiraz?
Adam WithringtonDrinks reporter
Syrah/shiraz is fast on its way to becoming as ubiquitous as chardonnay - all thanks to the Australians. It started out as the preserve of some of the great French winemakers in the Rhone valley. But ever since the Antipodeans took the decision to make syrah the main focus of their winemaking in the early 1980s, the grape has begun to take on a life of its own.
The grape is very well suited to the Australian climate and soil but what also had a massive impact was the decision to call the grape by a different name - shiraz. The reason why this happened is not clear. Some say it was down to pronunciation. Others suggest that it was because the true birthplace of the grape was the city of Shiraz in Iran in 600BC. There are other possibilities. But whatever the real reason, there is no doubt that this move had a massive impact on its popularity.
Shiraz has become, like chardonnay, as close to a brand as a grape variety could ever get. It is the star of the Australian wine revolution, perfect for blending with other grapes (like grenache and cabernet sauvignon) and is an excellent accompaniment with food, particularly meaty, gamey dishes.
- Central and Southern Europe
Despite its dry, hot climate there is not a great syrah tradition in Italy. However, if Italian wine is your thing then take the advice of wine writer Jancis Robinson, who recommends examples from Tuscany. Both Spanish and Greek winemakers have had success with syrah, as have Portuguese producers. And if you really want to try something different on your punters why don't you search around and find a syrah from Switzerland? Because according to those in the know you could be on to a winner.
France
Syrah is one of the classic French grape varieties, with French winemakers producing wines described by Oz Clark as "dark and peppery, thick with tannin and hot with jammy fruit". However, if you look around for mature bottles of the top syrahs, then the characteristic of the wine changes, with the heaviness giving way to a much more mellow ripe flavour. If you want a classic old-school French red on your wine list look no further than the Hermitage region (or its lighter cousin Crozes-Hermitage) in the Rhone Valley.
USA
Washington State is going for gold in the syrah stakes after big recent increases in syrah plantings. While California does not have a rich tradition of producing syrah, it does have some good examples. They can, however, be at the more expensive end of the scale.
South America
Given the grape's impressive performance in dry heat, countries from this area of the world, particularly Argentina and Chile are ideally suited to produce some interesting varieties of syrah. In his Encyclopedia of Wine, Oz Clarke also recommends Mexico, where local winemakers make Petite Sirah, which while not actually syrah, is made in a similar style.
South Africa
Cabernet sauvignon has been the grape of choice in South Africa for some time, something that stunted any progress that shiraz might have made. However, the country is emerging as a good source of well-priced, generously fruity shiraz. (South Africa is the one other country that has taken the decision to exchange the syrah for shiraz depending on the winemakers' choice of name.)
Australia
Shiraz is the most widely planted grape variety in Australia - more than 330,000 tonnes were harvested in 2004 - and some of the country's greatest wines belong to the shiraz family, like wines from Hunter Valley in New South Wales and Barossa Valley in the South. So why does it succeed so much there? According to Oz Clarke: "Heat is what the syrah likes: in a hot, dry climate, planted in poor soil, it'll be as happy as a sandboy and in Australia it responds magnificently. Since it was first introduced in the 1830s shiraz has been the great Australian grape." Look out also for the Aussies' preference of blending cabernet sauvignon with shiraz.
A fine wine for the winter by Andrew Catchpole
Winter demands heart-warming, spicy drinks. And syrah - along with its New World alter-ego shiraz - is an unbeatable choice. With the intensity of a winter warmer ale it combines jammy-ripe fruit richness with the heady aromas and chunky flavours of peppery, leathery, almost meaty character, encouraging you to down the bottle and order another round. So move aside slick cabernet, suave Pinot Noir and mellow merlot - syrah is the perfect winter wine.
If such a flowery description makes syrah sound more like a hot pot or gamey stew than a bottle of wine, then you'd be right. The point is that syrah is superb both as a hearty-but-easy-going quaffer, and as a partner for robust dishes such as burger and chips, roast lamb or game, or steak and kidney pie. It's a rich wine for full-flavoured dishes; an unfussy partner that thumbs its nose at the pretentious food and wine speak of supercilious sommeliers. With so many styles and a wealth of reasonably-priced examples readily available, syrah or shiraz is an ideal pub wine.
What's in a name?
To paraphrase Lisa Minelli's famous line about New York, New York in Cabaret, this is a grape so good they named it twice. In France and much of Europe the grape is known as syrah, whereas the Australians and other New World countries often name it as shiraz.
Old World
The Rhone Valley in France is the natural home of syrah. It's here where the violet aromas and spicy depths of this rustic aristocrat reach great heights in the full-bodied wines of Hermitage, St Joseph and Cote Rotie on the steep-sided northern stretches of the valley. Crozes-Hermitage is a lighter and more affordable alternative which still captures the character of these impressive wines.
Further south, syrah is typically blended with a wealth of other varieties including grenache, mourvedre and cinsault.
Chateauneuf-du-Pape can famously include up to 13 varieties with syrah a part player. The Languedoc and Roussillon regions of southern France are another excellent source of good value syrah and syrah-blend wines.
New World
As a rule of thumb, New World Shiraz has softer, more up-front fruit with a succulent almost sweet edge to its peppery and plum depths. Great examples are made across Australia and the wines from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley are of particular note. Austr
