Yea Syrah Syrah

People in the Tasting Room are always asking me if I’ve heard of Such and Such Winery in South Africa or the hot new boutique wine from Santa Barbara or if we’ve been to So and So’s Tasting Room in Washington. My answer is usually and sadly, no. With running the business and dealing with kid stuff, we lose track of a lot of the wine world outside of Oregon. So, one Saturday when the kids were napping I grabbed a year’s worth of back issues of Wine Spectator, Wines & Vines and Wine Business Monthly, determined to get through as many as possible. So I spent two glorious hours reading about the leading wineries from South Africa, the new boutique producers in Santa Barbara, the research and technological breakthroughs… I felt reconnected, savvy, in the know.

That night, my two year old had a bout of nightmares, waking up every two hours screaming for me (and smacking Scott away with a “No! I want mama!” when he answered the call instead of me). The next day in the Tasting Room a guy asked me if I knew the origins of syrah. I had just read about that the day before, and I could FEEL my brain trying to make the connections to where it had stored away that info. All I could think of was “Croatia” but even as I said that I knew it wasn’t right. (I was, or rather, my brain, was confusing syrah with zinfandel). He said, “Iran! It originated in Shiraz, Persia!”

Right, right, right, it all clicked in! Round about 600 BC or so some fellow is alleged to have “borrowed” some samples of this wonderful vine and smuggled them into what is now France and the rest is history. But later that night as I was reading an article by the brilliant Dr. Carole Meredith of UC Davis, I learned that her genetic testing showed that the varietal actually originated in the Rhone Valley. Oh well. The result is still the same – that’s one tasty grape!

There are two distinct styles of syrah: cool weather climate syrah and warm weather climate syrah. You can try them both for yourself in our tasting room – both display the classic characteristics of their style.

Our Volcano Vineyards 2004 Syrah is the cool climate syrah – the vineyard sits at 1600 feet, a high, cool spot in the Rogue Valley, challenging since some years the grapes never fully ripen. 2004 was a great year, steady warmth and more heat days than usual. As you’d expect in a cool climate syrah, ours is lower in alcohol – the grapes don’t get as ripe, so the sugar levels don’t get as high. Simply put, the fermentation of the sugars is what determines your alcohol level. Other classic cool weather syrah characteristics include blueberry and floral aromas, with cherry and plum flavors. It is more subtle and complex and is the syrah most Pinot noir lovers can appreciate.

Zerba’s 2004 Syrah is a classic warm weather syrah – the heat creates riper grapes, higher sugar levels, and the wine checks in at 14.85% alcohol. But, it has a nice backbone to support that higher alcohol so it doesn’t overwhelm your taste buds. Other classic warm weather syrah characteristics the Zerba has include dark berries, tobacco, and the distinctive white pepper/spice undertones.

Both styles are the result of the grapes terroir - where they are grown, not just the soil, but the climate, the geography and everything else that affects their development. Which leads to our next topic - terroir.