Shiraz / Syrah

Like many ‘noble’ varieties, Syrah still makes wine in its original home - France’s Northern Rhone. Here cooler continental climates like Hermitage, Cornas and Côte-Rôtie produce lighter-bodied, floral Syrahs with piercing black/blue fruit characters. Top New Zealand examples are similar, but Syrah’s world travels made it more famous in hotter climates - firstly France’s Southern Rhone and Languedoc-Roussillon (where it tends to blend with Grenache), and then Spain, America, South Africa and Australia. In the later the historical misnomer ‘Shiraz’ is now synonymous with this fuller-bodied style, the variety’s florals typically replaced by smoky earth and the spicy black fruit ripened toward jammy richness.