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Possibly the most misunderstood but still well-known grape on the planet, Syrah has multiple identity crises. It goes by two names, Syrah and Shiraz; wine insiders love it while most consumers are indifferent at best; and although it is often mistaken for a warm-weather variety, it really shines in cold-weather regions. Whether hailing from its original home in the Rhône Valley, Australia’s Victoria, Chile’s Casablanca region, or California’s Central Coast, cool-climate Syrah has a distinctly different personality that allows it to outshine jammy versions from hotter areas. Encountering an elegant Syrah after swearing off the high-alcohol, fruit-bomb expressions that flooded the market 20 years ago is like suddenly discovering that not all Chardonnay tastes like a two-by-four slathered with butter.
When we spoke with winemakers around the world about their cool climate Syrah, the same descriptors kept popping up, words like acidity, freshness, elegance, and white pepper. The last one can be a head scratcher for many people; without getting overly geeky, the presence of ground pepper flavors, especially the white persuasion, is due to a carbon compound or terpene called rotundone that is present in Syrah grapes. In cool regions it develops later in the ripening cycle and is one of those flavors that often closes out a tasting note after the words “with a touch of” or “a note of.” Randall Grahm, a pioneer in Rhône varieties in California’s Central Coast, produces a Santa Maria Valley Syrah called En Passerillage under his Language of Yes label. “The cooler site allows for greater retention of acidity as well as the presence of Syrah’s unique flavor signifiers, chiefly white pepper and bacon fat,” Grahm tells Robb Report. What sets a cool site apart from a cold site? Grahm explains that the Rancho Réal vineyard benefits from its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, which provides cooling wind and fog. Warmer regions may have lower elevation and be farther inland and distant from bodies of water that can offer morning fog or a cooling effect.
In Sta. Rita Hills, also on the Central Coast, winemaker Samra Morris has produced a couple of vintages of Alma Rosa El Jabali Syrah from an estate vineyard better known for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. “We grow our Syrah at the highest elevations of our El Jabali estate, where brisk onshore winds and Pacific Ocean fog combine with abundant California sunshine,” she tells Robb Report. “This unique climate extends our growing season, allowing the grapes to ripen on the vine until nearly Thanksgiving.” So instead of jammy Syrah, the El Jabali’s wine shows off the varietal’s savory side with notes of dark violets, crushed stone, and cracked pepper.
Much farther down the Pacific coast, in Chile’s Rosario Valley, Matetic Vineyards is known as the winery that put Chilean cold-climate Syrah on the map shortly after its founding in 1999. Matetic Syrah, from an organic and biodynamically farmed vineyard in San Antonio Valley, offers elegant black fruit and pepper flavors. Head winemaker Julio Bastías tells Robb Report that the vineyard’s proximity to the ocean helps retain acidity, whereas the same grape from a warmer climate will show more red-fruit characteristics and have much lower acidity, lacking the freshness that is retained in cool regions.
The bottles to convert Syrah skeptics.
Across the South Pacific in the remote and rugged Grampian region in Victoria, Mount Langi Ghiran is one of the coldest sites in the country and is often the last winery to pick fruit in all of mainland Australia. Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz is a completely different expression than one might expect from other Australian regions. Chief winemaker Adam Louder compares his wine to versions from Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, which may be “ripe, rich, and at times, jammy,” he says. But nestled between two mountains at 1,200 feet, his wines produce a different character. “The long, slow ripening of our Shiraz vines results in wines of notable elegance and balance,” Louder explains. “They maintain high levels of natural acidity and display a full spectrum of berry fruit, spice, and fine tannin that set them up to age gracefully for decades.”
No discussion of Syrah is complete without mentioning the northern Rhône Valley, where the variety reigns in the Hermitage, Cornas, Côte-Rôtie, and Saint-Joseph appellations. Louis Barruol founded Château du Rouanne in the up-and-coming Vinsobres appellation, which is at the northernmost limits of the Southern Rhône. Taking a more Burgundian approach, Barruol has released three different wines from distinct areas of his hillside vineyard. Winemaker Clarisse Borau describes Vinsobres as the coolest cruof the Southern Rhone and explains that Château du Rouanne’s location along the edge of the Alps offers a cool micro-climate “thanks to the cold wind coming down the mountains and cooling down the Eygues Valley,” she says. “Rouanne’s vineyard is also really interesting because of its altitude; we grow Syrah up to 320 meters [1,050 feet] above sea level.” Her Vinsobres Les Cotes is almost 100 percent Syrah made from slowly ripened small grapes that produce an elegant expression which drinks like a wine from more famous regions to the north.
One of the best things about Syrah? Apart from bottles from the northern Rhône, its under-the-radar status makes it affordable on wine lists and store shelves alike, especially compared to fashionable varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. There’s literally a world of options to choose from, and we’re betting you will be pleasantly surprised.
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