The world of wine is constantly chattering about the next great variety. A few years ago, Pinot Grigio was going to sweep Chardonnay from the shelves. It didn't happen. Then, about 18 months ago the movie Sideways was said to be giving Pinot Noir such a boost (and giving Merlot the boot) that it was going to surge in world markets.
The trouble with these sorts of predictions is that producers can't really respond to them. Suppose you wanted to cash in on movie-driven Pinot mania in late 2004. You'd have to find the money and land to plant (or expand your plantings) of Pinot Noir, wait at least three years to take a first harvest, then wait another year before the wine was ready for bottling. Would you invest heavily like this on the chance that the Sideways Effect (which boosted California Pinot sales about 20 per cent in the eight months after the movie's release in late 2004) lasted through 2009?
But there are long-term shifts in the popularity of varieties, and there's no doubt that one of the big winners in the last 10 years or so has been Shiraz, a.k.a. Syrah.
Syrah is the name used in the variety's French home, the Rhone Valley, and it's most commonly used in wines throughout the south of France. But when Australians planted the grape, they called it Shiraz (for reasons that still aren't clear) and nearly all Australian wine made from the variety carries Shiraz on the label.
It has become Australia's signature red (and is the grape used in Penfold's Grange, Australia's icon wine), and it's the success of Australian wine that has carried the variety to its current popularity. Now, Shiraz/Syrah is produced in many other parts of the world, notably South Africa, Chile and California, but there are interesting examples from Ontario, Italy, and elsewhere.
Producers can label their wines either Syrah or Shiraz, and the decision seems to rest on two prime considerations. In many cases, the choice of Syrah or Shiraz signals the style of wine: if it's in the fruit-driven, intensely flavoured and high-alcohol New World style, it's likely to be called Shiraz, but if it's a more structured and complex Old World style, it's more likely to be labelled Syrah. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, though, because — thanks to Australia — the name Shiraz has better recognition. That's led some producers, who might have preferred to call their wine Syrah, to opt for Shiraz instead. There's a story about a French wine producer that labelled its wine Shiraz and had great success selling it in British supermarkets. But when the European wine law authorities insisted it be relabelled Syrah (because Shiraz wasn't then a recognized European grape variety name), sales plummeted.
Within the two broad styles, there's a host of stylistic variations. Not all Australian Shirazes are the big, jammy, fruit-bombs that many people love. On the other hand, there are some delicious fruit-driven Syrahs and Syrah-blends from Europe. Check the LCBO and Vintages for a pretty good selection.
Today, three Shirazes and a Syrah.