Salute to Shiraz

Directions

Made of history

Dark, rich and full of delicious fruit flavour, Shiraz is Australia’s most famous wine and this Rhône Valley grape was one of the first grape varieties planted in Australia in the soils of the Hunter Valley and at the Sydney Botanical Gardens back in 1831. Eight years later it made its way to South Australia and becoming integral to our fortified winemaking. 

A style for everyone

Shiraz is very good at adapting to various climates and with Australia’s diversity, you’ll experience significant variation in style and character subject to the region it hails from. The Hunter Valley stands alone with its generally more earthy and tarry Shiraz style that tend to be very long-lived, developing complex, leathery characters over time. However, for the rest of the country there are two main styles:

• Cool climate – grown mainly in Victoria, the Canberra District and cooler coastal, and higher altitude regions of South Australia deliver lighter wines. These tend to be finer bodied, with more savoury spice, and both black and white pepper characters. Seppelt St. Peters is testament to Australia’s unique cool climate Shiraz.
• Warmer climate – think the renowned Shiraz of the Barossa, McLaren Vale and the Clare Valley, which tend to be deeper and richer, with more concentrated, dark fruit flavours, and secondary characters of chocolate, coffee, liquorice and black olive. Wolf Blass Estates of Barossa Lyndoch Shiraz is a stunning example of why warm climate Aussie Shiraz is world renowned.

The French call it Syrah and in Australia, growers often use this term to denote a lighter style of wine by labelling it Syrah, where its generally a cooler climate wine with finer, spicier fruit flavours. Shiraz is also the great link in many beautiful red blends – filling out the mid-palate of the longer, leaner, more structural Cabernet Sauvignon or adding richness and depth to the soft fruit of Grenache.

The ultimate food wine

As a full-flavoured wine, Shiraz works well with full-flavoured foods. Red meats definitely, while pork and game marry beautifully with cooler climate wines. But it’s also a great BBQ or pizza wine – whatever you fancy really.

Peppery flavoured and dark fruit sauces like plum or cherry are great with Shiraz. Full sweet Shiraz flavours can balance well with warm spicy foods like Mexican chilli, Chinese five-spice and Hoisin. More herbal flavours, fennel and pepper are great with spicy, cool climate styles.

Shiraz is also a cheese wine. It loves strong hard cheese, particularly aged Cheddar, and the sweet fruit palate also balances well with soft, rich blue cheese without too much pungency that can clash with the tannins. And if you have a sweet tooth, indulge in a fruiter Shiraz with chocolate.