🍷 Celebrate International Syrah Day with a Glass of Shiraz! 🎉
Today, we dive into the world of Syrah / Shiraz, a wine that dances delightfully with your favorite dishes and brings warmth to any occasion. Here are 10 sips of knowledge to wet your appetite:
Food matches: Shiraz suits meaty, savoury full-flavoured dishes, like roast beef, steak, roast aubergines, peppers, dhal. If you like spicy dishes, Shiraz can dial up the heat, when combined with dishes like chilli con carne, enchiladas, pepperoni pizza. Where you have a spicy/peppery sauce, Shiraz will bear up to it like no other wine can! If you like the sound of that, read on… !
It has 2 names! Shiraz is often called Syrah. The French almost always refer to it as Syrah. Aussies call it Shiraz. Take your pick!
Shiraz vines are sun-worshippers, and grow in hot regions like the South of France, most of Australia, and warm sites in South Africa, New Zealand, and Chile. Its a newcomer in regions like Spain’s Carinena and Portugal, which are warm enough to grow it successfully (and yes, Molloys have Syrah from both!).
Shiraz likes company! It is often blended with other varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, also Tempranillo.
Flavours: Black fruit (blackberry, black cherry, black plum), pepper, a hint of spice/liquorice. Mature Shiraz will pick up leather, earth, meaty aromas.
Shiraz is often aged in oak, which can add hints of vanilla, chocolate, and sweet spice.
It is a colourful wine! Shiraz is deeply-coloured and will stain your lips, so if you are trying to show off your new lippie, drink something else!
It’s bold! Shiraz at best is full-bodied, with warm balanced alcohol and finishing smooth on the palate.
World-famous/very expensive wines made from Shiraz: Côte Rôtie, Hermitage, Penfolds Grange. In December 2021, a bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage Bin 1 Shiraz 1951 went under the hammer at a Langton's online auction for $157,624, making it the most expensive bottle of Australian wine ever sold.
Premium wines from Shiraz worth trying, which don’t cost an arm and a leg: Shiraz from regions like Barossa or McLaren Vale, Crôzes-Hermitages, St. Joseph, and blends like Gigondas and Côtes du Rhône Villages.
4 to try from Molloys:
D’Arry’s Shiraz Grenache : An Aussie classic, with layers of black and purple fruits and savoury forest-floor notes.
Crôzes-Hermitage Dauvergne-Ranvier: Rich & satisfying. Wonderful perfume of violets and savoury leather. This Syrah is full-bodied, with plenty of ripe dark fruit, spice, liquorice, white pepper. 90 points on Molloys Rating system.
Fabula Syrah from Spain. Full-bodied, smooth, balanced and long. Deep purple in colour. Ripe black cherry, chocolate, a hint of violets, with a long finish revealing earthy note.
Beauvignac Vieilles Vignes Syrah: medium-bodied, packed with stewed blackberry, plum, soft white pepper and sweet spice, with a distinctive savoury, leathery note.
