Australia's signature red grape and its most planted variety, made in styles from plush and generous to peppery and medium-bodied.
History
Known in France as Syrah, the grape comes from the northern Rhône, where it makes the famous wines of Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. DNA research has shown it to be a cross of two old French varieties, Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche. Beyond France it is grown widely in the south of the country, Spain, South Africa, Chile, Argentina and the United States, usually labelled Syrah.
Australia uses the name Shiraz, and its success here helped make the grape famous around the world.
Shiraz in Australia
Shiraz arrived with James Busby's vine collection in 1832 and spread quickly through the colonies. South Australia never suffered phylloxera, so the Barossa and McLaren Vale still have some of the oldest producing Shiraz vines in the world, some planted in the mid-1800s.
Penfolds Grange, first made in the early 1950s, and Henschke's Hill of Grace showed it could make world-class wine. Today it is planted in almost every region, from the warm Barossa and McLaren Vale to cooler Canberra, the Yarra Valley, Heathcote and Great Southern, and it is also made into sparkling red.
Tasting notes
Warm-region Shiraz is typically full-bodied, with blackberry, plum and dark chocolate, ripe tannins and often notes of mocha or vanilla from oak. Cooler-climate wines are more medium-bodied and savoury, with red and black fruits, black pepper, spice and sometimes a floral lift, especially when co-fermented with a little Viognier. Older wines develop leather, earth and dried-fruit characters.