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Syrah, also known as Shiraz in Australia, is the noble red grape of the northern Rhone Valley. It is a key component of both our Esprit de Beaucastel and Cotes de Tablas. Depending on the vintage, it forms 20-35% of the final Esprit de Beaucastel blend, donating dark fruit, structure, a deep blackish-purple color, minerality, and longevity. It can give mid-palate richness to Mourvedre-based blends, and structure and tannin to Grenache-based wines such as our 2004 Cotes de Tablas. Beginning in 2002, we have also made a varietal Syrah.
Early History
Syrah is one of the oldest established grape varietals in the Côtes du Rhône region of southern France, and competing stories abound about its origin. One legend attributes its arrival in France to the Phocaeans of Asia Minor, who brought the grape from Shiraz, Persia when they established Marseilles around 600 BC. Another story claims that Romans brought the varietal from Syracuse, in Sicily, to the Rhône in the 3rd century AD. It seems most likely, however, that Syrah is a native French grape, the chance offspring of two grapes (Dureza and Mondeuse) from southeastern France. Whatever its origin, Syrah was well established in the vineyards surrounding the Rhône village of Tain l’Hermitage by the 13th century.
Syrah Around the World
Syrah is most closely associated with the Northern Rhône appellations of Hermitage and Côte-Rotie, where it produces wines of phenomenal elegance and longevity. It is tremendously flexible, and can make elegant and restrained wines as well as wines bursting with fruit and oak, in locations as diverse as France, California, South Africa, and Australia. In the 1650s, South Africa was the first country outside France to plant Syrah, but it has never been more than a minor variety there. In Australia, however, where it arrived at the end of the 18th Century, it has become one of the most widely planted grapes in that country. The first records of Syrah in the United States show it arriving in California in 1878, but it remained scarce until quite recently, with only 1,200 tons harvested in 1992. As California winemakers recognize its potential, the acreage has increased nearly one hundredfold in the past ten years, with the roughly 18,000 acres of Syrah planted in California in 2005 more or less equal to the combined acreage of all the other Rhone varieties. Although it is occasionally confused with the California varietal Petite Sirah, they are separate varietals (many experts believe most of what is called Petite Sirah is genetically identical to the varietal Durif).
Syrah in the Vineyard & Winery
Syrah is quite vigorous and thrives when given warm days, poor soils, and sun. Because it is so vigorous, it requires extra canopy management (to expose the fruit to the sun for ripening) and aggressive crop thinning. Unlike most other varietals, its canes extend down toward the ground rather than up toward the sun, and therefore it is the one varietal permitted to be trellised in Châteauneuf-du-Pape instead of head-pruned. It ripens earlier than any of the other red southern Rhône varietals, and its small clusters and small berries produce juice with concentrated flavors and significant tannin. During vinification, we ferment Syrah in large open-top tanks, a process that exposes the juice to more oxygen and thereby softens the tannins and compensates for Syrah’s tendency toward reduction. The 11 acres of Syrah planted at Tablas Creek represents about 25% of our red Rhône production.
Flavors and Aromas
The Syrah grape itself is thick-skinned and dark, almost black. Its wines are intense with a dark purple-black color. The wines taste of blackberry and currant fruit, smoke, tar and black pepper, and have a smooth supple texture. Syrah reflects minerality well, and the chalky character of the tannins provides a wonderful backbone to softer, fruitier varietals such as Grenache and Counoise. In our blends, Syrah provides structure, a deep blackish-purple color, minerality, and longevity.
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This article originally appeared in a recent quarterly newsletter. Each newsletter, we spotlight the history and characteristics of one of our Rhone varietals. You can sign up for our mailing list.
You can go back to the summaries of the different Rhone grape varietals.