Hello friends, and wine lovers, AND football fans!
That's right, Philadelphia! Super Bowl champions! Welcome back to the latest
video in our series about the best red wines for beginners. In this installment
we're gonna take a trip to the dark side - we're gonna talk about that deep, dark
red wine known as Syrah - or is it Shiraz? Stay tuned to find out.
There's a bit of mystery about Syrah, for several reasons: Frst of all, it's not as
prolific as say a Cabernet or Merlot; it's ranked at about the seventh most
planted grape in the world at about 350,000 acres. Secondly it's used in a
lot of blends, so it doesn't always get top billing on the label. But the biggest
part of the mystery could be the name, Syrah. There's a popular rumor that says
Syrah came from the Persian Empire about 2,000 years ago, because the capital of
Persia was called Shiraz, at the time. And while that sounds like a pretty cool story,
it's not true! The Syrah grape actually comes from the Rhone Valley in
southern France and to this day, that's where it still rules. So what then,
is Shiraz? It's actually the same grape, just pronounced slightly differently.
When they brought this grape to Australia in the 1830s they were using
the Anglicized name, Scyras. Throw in an Australian accent, and well you get
SHIRAZ. So, same grape just slightly different name that's all.
What does Syrah wine taste like? As always it depends on where it's grown, most often
it's described as having strong black and purple fruit flavors, black raspberry,
plums, blueberry, that sort of thing... French Syrah
tends to be a bit more soft and herbal, some people even say that it has
somewhat of a black pepper bite to it. In Australia, Shiraz is huge, powerful and
often woody, from lots of time in an oak barrel... so if you like bold Reds with
lots of spice, cedar and alcohol, then this is your jam!
Syrah also does something quite interesting as it ages. Author of the
Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil, describes Syrah as the "kind of guy who wears cowboy
boots with a tuxedo." I think what she means by that is that the wine can be
very elegant and refined but at the same time it has these rustic and sort of
animal qualities to it. Old Syrah and Shiraz can start to smell and taste like
pipe tobacco, leather and yes, even barnyard. At first the term "barnyard" can
seem a little off-putting, but trust me if you grew up on, or around, a farm you
know what I'm talking about. It's actually a beautiful thing.
I kind of love that gamy, musky smell in old Syrah! Where can you find good
Syrah and Shiraz? Well as you know in France they label their wines based on
where the wine is made so you're gonna have to know something about the
location in order to be able to find good Syrah. For the most Syrah
in the bottle, you're going to look for wines that come from the northern part
of the Rhone Valley, in particular, Cote Rotie, Saint Joseph and Hermitage. The real
challenge in trying to get these wines is that they could be very expensive so
be prepared to buck up! If you don't mind tasting your Syrah as part of a blend,
then for a lot cheaper you can buy a Cotes du Rhone. This is a pretty
common wine made all over the Valley and these tend to have less Syrah in them, but
they're still a good entry point into the world of Syrah. But your best bet is to
look to the smaller, less traditional producers of the Rhone Valley. In this
case here I found a 100% Syrah that's actually labeled on the bottle for about $15.
In Australia look to places like the Barossa Valley, Coonawarra and the
McClaren Vale regions. The great news is that Aussie Shiraz is abundant, and that
makes it pretty affordable. iIf you have some discretionary cash and want to try
something that's a bit up there, the sky's the limit, as you can see here with
this very famous Aussie Shiraz that I found at my store. As with most wine
grapes, Syrah and Shiraz are made all over the world now - places like Chile,
California and even South Africa, are fun examples to try and often, very affordable.
Food pairings are pretty straightforward: Syrah and Shiraz make
bold herbal spicy wines, and they're perfect with red meats, especially grilled
and hearty stews and chili. All right my friends, here we are again...
I'm glad to be back in the swing of things, and please do me a favor:
If you like my videos, "like" them, offer me some comments below, and if you haven't
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make a new video - don't forget to check out some of the other videos in this
series about the best red and white wines for beginners, and of course all the
other material that's here on the Wine Living Channel. Take care of yourselves,
and I'll catch you on the next video. Cheers!!