Viticulture
This bad boy is prone to vigorous growth, with medium size tight bunched berries. It is late to bud, but erly to harvest and needs canopy management to maintain good quality and avoid the pitfall of overripening early. All of the above attributes means thatthe finished wine is oftenhigh alcohol. It thrives in shallow, rocky well drained soils, of either granite or schist
Viniculture
Syrahs can sometimes be made using Carbonic Maceration, yeah it's not Beaujolais that's weird to us to.
WInemakers will often use warm fermentation to extract more flavors and color
Malolactic Fermentation
Oak aging: adds texture, richness, and toast
Old World producers use Old French Oak barrels
New World producers use new French or American oak barrels (or oak chips in the case of value wines) which lend vanilla spice
Micro-oxygenation: use of tiny amounts of Oxygen during fermentation to speed up softening of tannins.
especially in Australia
| Old World | New World |
|
Northern Rhone: Mono-Varietal Southern Rhone: Blends of GSM Mistral: Wind that blows from the North and Northeast, reaching speeds up to 90 km/hr |
California (Syrah) Washington Australia (Shiraz) |
Common Descriptors
Color: Concentrated black-berry red with jumpy purple rim (can look like Cab sometimes, so always check tannins; as Shiraz tannins are always lower)
Aroma: Black currant, black berry, raspberries, violets, tobacco, tobacco leaf, carnations, leather, wood, smoke, rosemary, meatiness, (S. Rhone) vanilla spice from oak
Acidity: Medium
Alcohol: Medium to medium plus
Tannins: Medium plus
Flavors: Blackberry, raspberries, black pepper, dark chocolate, sweat, leather, black olives
“Le garrique” lavender, rosemary, thyme, - dried or fresh, herbs de provence