Que Syrah, Shiraz: what’s in a name?

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet if you want to take the Bard’s word for it. But how would it sell if it was marketed as a daisy? That is what a lot of Shiraz, or as some would have it, Syrah producers are debating in Australia, because right or wrong, Shiraz is widely perceived to be the sunnier, more vivacious, but also definitely more downmarket cousin to mysterious, elegant, floral Syrah. The post Que Syrah, Shiraz: what’s in a name? appeared first on The Drinks Business.

Mar 11, 2025 - 11:05

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet if you want to take the Bard’s word for it. But how would it sell if it was marketed as a daisy? That is what a lot of Shiraz, or as some would have it, Syrah producers are debating in Australia, because right or wrong, Shiraz is widely perceived to be the sunnier, more vivacious, but also definitely more downmarket cousin to mysterious, elegant, floral Syrah.

For vintners making opulent and lush expressions of the grape in the Barossa Valley, the choice is obvious: Shiraz. But for winemakers in cooler climes growing and crafting expressions akin to those produced in the Northern Rhone, the grape’s birthplace, the question is more nuanced. On the one hand, selling the wine as Syrah might more accurately convey to would-be drinkers what’s inside. On the other hand, the name Shiraz is deeply connected to the grape’s identity in Australia. “The upside of marketing Australian wine as Shiraz is that the consumer will readily recognise the wine as Australian,” says Kathryn Morgan, a master sommelier and the director of wine education for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits East Region. “The downside is that many consumers shopping in the premium and super premium price tiers associate Shiraz with the ‘cheap and cheerful’ critter labels of the early 2000s and may not believe that Shiraz can be high quality, or that there are important stylistic differences in Australian growing regions.” Literal and spiritual roots of Syrah and Shiraz After decades of debate, a 1998 DNA analysis by UC Davis professor Dr. Carole Meredith proved that not only are Shiraz and Syrah identical varieties, but that it originated in France, not Persia, near the city of Shiraz, or Syracuse, Italy as previously suspected. While it was born in the Rhone-Alpes region, the progeny of the white grape Mondeuse Blanche and red grape Dureza, it is most associated with the Northern Rhone. In 1832, cuttings of Syrah from Montpelier were brought to Australia by James Busby, and it thrived across the country, especially in the Barossa Valley. It was known as Shiraz there for reasons that remain a bit hazy, but then again, Australians also call afternoons arvos and chickens chooks. France is still the largest producer of Syrah grapes, with Australia coming in second, and while France really only produces the fine-grained, savoury, fruit-forward and floral version synonymous with Crozes-Hermitage and Cote-Rotie, Australia produces everything from the classic French expression to round and rich blackberry, plum, chocolate and vanilla-flecked bangers.

The politicisation of Syrah vs Shiraz

Around 2000, the decision to call your wine Syrah or Shiraz began to feel more complicated, akin to marketing a low-intervention wine as “natural,” says Chuck Hayward, proprietor of Vinroads, a consulting outfit dedicated to marketing and education for Australian and New Zealand wines in the US. “It used to be that a wine was either Syrah or it was Shiraz, no big deal,” Hayward says. “But at the Shiraz Alliance Conference in Barossa Valley in 2000, I remember beginning to see a political, and sometimes classist tone to the argument. Some people were actually arguing that it should be regulated so that South Australian regions would have Shiraz, and cool climate regions would be Syrah.” That “us against them” mentality in the debate is a symptom of wine culture’s bigger problem, Hayward argues. Indeed, quibbling over what to call a certain type of wine does feel like the sort of inability to see the forest for the trees that has put wine on such a precipitous course toward decline in recent years. “Our biggest focus should be on getting people to enjoy wine, but now we have this approach where if you want your wine served at fancy restaurants, you tend to put Syrah on the label,” Hayward says. “The vibe is very much if you’re cool and like to drink fine wines with your pinky out, it’s Syrah.” He also wonders if the constant hand-wringing over the naming conventions is part of the “cultural cringe” that makes Australian vintners — despite the diversity of their 65 growing regions, and the increasing recognition Australian wines are garnering abroad from critics — look over that shoulders at Europe to see what they’re doing. “They should look in the mirror instead, and see how much they have to be proud of,” Hayward says.

Shiraz all the way

Increasingly, serious winemakers are opting to do just that. Shaw + Smith, perched in the Adelaide Hills, focuses on cool-climate premium expressions of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. Not Syrah. “It’s an Australian wine, so we want to call it Shiraz, even if that is divisive,” explains David LeMire, MW and joint CEO of the winery. “We definitely don’t want Australian Shiraz to mean overly fruity. It’s valid to go either way, but we want to broaden the definition by honouring the traditional Australian name and producing a more balanced expression.” At Leeuwin Estate, one of the founding wineries in the Margaret River (with help from none other than Napa Valley legend Robert Mondavi in 1972) the team takes their reputation for crafting world-class wines as seriously as they do their role as ambassadors of authentic Australian viticulture. “Our inspiration is the Northern Rhone, but we want to call it Shiraz, even though it’s a cool-climate Margaret River expression,” says Simone Horgan-Furlong, joint CEO of the estate, alongside her brother Justin Horgan. “It is an ongoing conversation among our team members, but we have decided to call it Shiraz even if others are marketing the same style as Syrah to avoid being associated with a jammy and perhaps overblown style.” Leeuwin’s winemaker Tim Lovett concurs, saying that the winemaking team sees it as their duty to redefine Australian Shiraz. “We couldn’t make a Barossa-style Shiraz here if we wanted to,” Lovett says. “We want the wine, not the name of the grape, to tell the story of Australian regionality.”

Just Syrah for us

Other winemakers are more keen to clearly communicate what buyers will find inside the bottle. At Pooley Wines in Tasmania, general manager Tristan Jones says that the region overall has gained recognition primarily for its cool climate expressions of still and sparkling Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but that Syrah is an emerging variety. “We and others are marketing it as Syrah because it isn’t the big, chewy red associated with Shiraz, but with more peppery and vegetal flavours that you’d find in the Northern Rhone,” Jones says. “There are about 10 of us in Tasmania working with and marketing the grape as Syrah.”

Embracing Shiraz and Syrah

Other producers are producing both Shiraz and Syrah wines, and marketing them according to flavour, and generally, price. “For us at Longview, it’s often a price choice,” says Chris Mein, viticulturist at Longview Vineyard in Australia’s Adelaide Hills. “Our Shiraz isn’t going to be like what you’d find in Barossa, but it’s going to be softer and rounder than our Syrah. Our Syrah is going to be more expensive, and more restrained. But Shiraz isn’t a dirty word. We want to embrace it.” In Margaret River, the team at McHenry Hohnen has also opted to make both for different palates and at different price points. “We love the Rhone, and we make a Syrah with a little bit of Viognier that has become a flagship for us,” says winemaker Jacopo Dalli Cani. “Our Shiraz is very popular too, but it is more fruit forward and round, and it is about half the price.”

The bigger problem

While Syrah is one of the most planted red wine grapes in the world, behind only Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine, it is divisive. “When I was a brand-new wine director, I remember reading an article stating that Syrah was going to be the ‘next big thing,’” Southern Glazer’s wine educator Morgan explains. “It made sense. Syrah has a black fruit-driven flavour profile that appeals to Cabernet Sauvignon drinkers but with softer tannins and some ‘bonus’ savouries like black pepper and bacon.” Plus, it’s only two syllables so it’s easy to say, pronounce and spell. But Morgan, after two decades, has stopped waiting. It is, like Riesling, a wine lover’s wine grape. “As wine professionals, we love to sell it, but Syrah never sells itself,” she says. “Shiraz will, but typically only at lower price points.” Why? Because you never know what you’re going to get. There’s a wide range of styles and expressions, sometimes (as the wineries that love to go both ways with Syrah and Shiraz demonstrate), from the same terroir.

Still pigeonholed

From New York’s Community Wine & Spirit founder David Weitzenhoffer’s perspective, the problem is even more daunting, especially when he can’t practically hand-sell every bottle of Syrah and Shiraz in his popular Chelsea store. “At Community Wine and Spirits, we sell both, and they sell equally well, or poorly to two different demographics,” he says. “We generally see two primary groups gravitate toward Shiraz: Australians and people over 45. The real issue is that Australian wines have an Australia problem, and Syrah and Shiraz have a Syrah problem.” No Syrah is flying off the shelves of its own volition, despite the quality of the wines. And Australia today, while not being the Australia of the early aughts in terms of winemaking styles, still gets pigeonholed. And, as Weitzenhoffer points out, the stereotypical big fruit bomb styles aren’t what younger wine consumers want. Marketing a rose but calling it a daisy is complicated, but it’s all in the pitch. “If Australians want to look to Europe, look to Italy and look at the way they market with pride and swagger,” advises Hayward. “They’ve got some amazing wines and an incredibly diverse country.” Once Aussie vintners buy into the nuances of their diversity and get comfortable selling that complexity and nuance, there will be a market for both Syrah and Shiraz.