Syrah
Also known as Shiraz
Northern Rhône, France
A dark, peppery red grape from the Northern Rhône, known as Shiraz in Australia, capable of producing everything from elegant, savory wines to bold, jammy ones.
Sensory profile
Characteristics
Flavor & aroma
At a glance
Production facts
Prevalence
Widely planted
Climate
Warm climate
Ripening
Mid season
Wine styles
Still
Where it's grown
Geography
Shaded areas are the state, province or département(s) containing each region, so they run wider than the appellations themselves.
France
Northern Rhône (Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie)
Elegant, peppery, savory reds considered the grape's classic benchmark.
Australia
Barossa Valley
As Shiraz, old-vine plantings produce powerful, richly fruited, iconic reds.
McLaren Vale
The region's flagship red, rich and dark-fruited, ripened by a long, mild season.
South Africa
Swartland
A growing reputation for characterful, often minimal-intervention Syrah.
Background
Origin & History
For centuries Syrah was wrapped in romantic legend, with wine writers tracing its name and origins to the Persian city of Shiraz or the ancient Greek colony of Syracuse in Sicily. DNA profiling by a joint French and UC Davis team in the late 1990s put those stories to rest, identifying two obscure French grapes, Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche, as its actual parents and firmly locating its true origin in the Rhône Valley.
It became the defining red grape of the Northern Rhône's steep terraced vineyards — Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, Cornas — prized for its peppery, savory intensity. Exported to Australia in the early 19th century, it took on a new identity as Shiraz, becoming the country's most iconic grape, spanning everything from elegant, cool-climate examples to the powerfully ripe, internationally celebrated bottlings of the Barossa Valley.
Lineage
Family tree
Ancestry above, descendants below. Click a related grape to explore its own lineage.