Syrah

Syrah

Syrah (Shiraz) is not the first grape that one associates with Italy, but it was actually well represented in Italy before phylloxera struck. As the vineyards were gradually replanted, Syrah was mostly absent. It is hardly surprising that it had such a presence, as many noble French grapes (and some less noble) have long, if not always continuous histories in Italy.

Its reintroduction, however, was less a product of tradition, but rather change. It started to have a modest but meaningful presence in Tuscany, beginning in the 1990s, at a time when the ‘International’ qualities of grapes like Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot and Syrah were highly valued. Thankfully, the homogenising effect that small proportions of some of these grapes can have (or rather, that they can have in the hands of certain winemakers chasing accolades) when blended with local varieties is not something that Syrah has been...READ MORE

Syrah

Syrah (Shiraz) is not the first grape that one associates with Italy, but it was actually well represented in Italy before phylloxera struck. As the vineyards were gradually replanted, Syrah was mostly absent. It is hardly surprising that it had such a presence, as many noble French grapes (and some less noble) have long, if not always continuous histories in Italy.

Its reintroduction, however, was less a product of tradition, but rather change. It started to have a modest but meaningful presence in Tuscany, beginning in the 1990s, at a time when the ‘International’ qualities of grapes like Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot and Syrah were highly valued. Thankfully, the homogenising effect that small proportions of some of these grapes can have (or rather, that they can have in the hands of certain winemakers chasing accolades) when blended with local varieties is not something that Syrah has been much responsible for. In fact, although Syrah works well in blends, it also conveys regional characteristics admirably as a standalone (or dominant) variety.

Today, it is grown in decent concentration (it’s actually more prolific than Nebbiolo) in various regions, but it is most commonly found in Sicily, and holds a substantially smaller but no less successful foothold in Tuscany, notably in Cortona.

 

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