{"id":1962,"date":"2021-10-29T19:28:32","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T19:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1962"},"modified":"2021-10-29T19:28:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T19:28:32","slug":"tasting-syrah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1962","title":{"rendered":"Tasting Syrah"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Syrah grape is ubiquitous.\u00a0 It originated in ancient Persia, around 4,500 years ago, according to archaeologists, in the region that now contains the city of Shiraz.\u00a0 And indeed, some wines made from the grape are still called Shiraz.\u00a0 It is now grown in France, mostly in the Rh\u00f4ne valley and the Languedoc.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find it in California, especially in the Central Coast.\u00a0 It is a primary grape in Australian wines (where they call it Shiraz) with the center of production in the Barossa region.<\/p>\n

We were first introduced to Syrah many years ago, when traveling in abroad.\u00a0 Some Aussie blokes we knew gave us a glass of Oxford Landing Shiraz.\u00a0 At that early stage of our wine tasting education, red wine meant Cabernet Sauvignon and nothing but.\u00a0 So our first reaction to this glass was that there was something wrong with the wine.\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t sour; it didn\u2019t taste bad.\u00a0 It was just different.\u00a0 This was a wine tasting epiphany!\u00a0 Oxford Landing is a mass production wine and we\u2019ve had many better Syrahs since then, but that first one has never been forgotten.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Syrah grapes. Photo courtesy of Banfi Wines.<\/em><\/p>\n

One part of that experience still rings true: Syrah is different.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s a deep, dark wine that goes with roast beef.\u00a0 California\u2019s Darioush winery makes wine like this.\u00a0 (The founder is of Iranian descent and calls it Shiraz.)\u00a0 Others are lighter and can accompany chicken or pasta.\u00a0 You just can\u2019t tell until you taste.<\/p>\n

Syrah is the primary grape of the Northern Rh\u00f4ne.\u00a0 Wines from Cornas must be 100% Syrah and it is central to most of the other wines of the region.\u00a0 There\u2019s plenty of depth in these wines but there is also a notable acidity.\u00a0 As we have gone wine tasting in the Northern Rh\u00f4ne, we\u2019ve been surprised at how notably acidic some of the wines are, especially those we tasted at Cave Yves Cuilleron.\u00a0 Of course, acidity is a good thing in wine; no complaints, we\u2019re just noting the difference.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of Syrah grown in the Southern Rh\u00f4ne and the Languedoc, where it is generally blended with Grenache and other grapes.\u00a0 Blends are the rule for AOC-denominated wines, so single varietal wines from the region are marked as IGP (Indication G\u00e9ographique Prot\u00e9g\u00e9e<\/em>) or VdP (Vin de Pays<\/em>).\u00a0 When you can taste the full varietal character in the southern regions, there is often a note that the locals call garrigue<\/em>, the scrubby vegetation that grows along the hillsides with some flavors of rosemary.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s Central Coast makes Syrahs that are fruit bombs with way over-the-top alcohol levels. Sometimes we call those \u201cchewy\u201d wines.\u00a0 In general, Syrah likes warm weather but the heat of the Central Coast really pumps up the sugar, which in turn becomes alcohol.\u00a0 The Syrahs in the Napa\/Noma area tend to be mellower, though still on the deep end.<\/p>\n

They grow more Shiraz in Australia than any other grape, and the wines tend to be big and sunny, which brings us full circle back to that first glass.\u00a0 The point of this round-the-world Syrah trip is that you never know what you\u2019re going to get when you first taste a Syrah.\u00a0 Big and bold, lighter and acidic, punchy and alcoholic, open and herbal \u2013 they\u2019re all the same grape, but not the same terroir, not the same winemaker.<\/p>\n

So when you travel for wine tasting, be prepared for something different, whenever they offer you a Syrah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Syrah grape is ubiquitous.\u00a0 It originated in ancient Persia, around 4,500 years ago, according to archaeologists, in the region that now contains the city of Shiraz.\u00a0 And indeed, some wines made from the grape are still called Shiraz.\u00a0 It is now grown in France, mostly in the Rh\u00f4ne valley and the Languedoc.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find … Continue reading Tasting Syrah<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1964,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions\/1964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}