Selection International French Syrah has been discontinued for years now, but we discovered a stash that we had hidden away to age, and forgot about it! What a find! It has to be 4 or 5 years old.
Syrah is one of the six largest grape varietals, with the others being Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Syrah wine originates out of the Rhone valley in France. Syrah wine has spread far and wide and it is grown in many parts of the world. It is quite popular in Australia and South Africa, where it is called “Shiraz.” If you are poured a Hermitage or Marsanne Noir, you are also drinking Syrah wine.
There are many flavours or scents that have been used to describe Syrah wine, including bay leaf, black currant, black olive, black pepper, black truffle, blackberry, blueberry, cachou, cedar, cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, civet, coconut, clove, earth, eucalyptus, expresso, fig, grass, licorice, mocha, mint, musk, plum, rasberry, red currant, rosemary, sage, sandalwood, smoke, spice, thyme, truffle, vanilla and violets. That’s a LOT to “get” out of a glass — all I know is it was wonderful and aged to perfection – it was like drinking dark cherries wrapped in velvet !!
Syrah is not the same as Petit Sirah. Petit Sirah is a different grape altogether, and is primarily grown in California.
I’m not sure why it was discontinued ( seems a shame ), but I imagine more people are familiar with the term “Shiraz” , and as we all know Shiraz became very “trendy”, and thus poor ole Syrah unfortunately took a back seat !
This just proved to me once again the importance of AGING certain wines. It just opens up a whole new background and dimension to your wines.
