Article by Vijayjan Nair

Australia is a well known place for it’s best quality wine like Chardonnay, Merlot or Shiraz. From Brisbane to Darwin, you will find plenty of wine regions. Australian people feel themselves very proud because of excellent grape varieties and wine culture.

Shiraz is one of the best Australian red wine. Shiraz, which is also called as Syrah in France, Chile and Argentina, is a kind of grape. Both these wines tend to be very intense and masculine that need many years of maturity in order to overcome their powerful tannins. Shiraz grape is very dark purple in color. Shiraz was produced in Australia in the year 1832 and has been cultivated there ever since.

The name Shiraz has been taken from the city name Shiraz where the process of wine making is originated some 7,000 years ago. Guy De’Sterimberg is the person who actually brought the grape Shiraz to Southern France after his visit to Iran at the time of crusades. Eventually he turned into a hermit and produced a vineyard on the hill not very far from his home in Rhode River Valley. Thus, the wine is most popularly known as the Hermitage.

The Shiraz grape has the potential to make it’s own wonderful, dry red label table wine. To have a more enriched and fuller effect, the Shiraz grape can be combined with other varieties of grapes too. The Shiraz grape is used for numerous purposes. It was used to make port wine and also to produce a red sparkling wine, known as Sparkling Shiraz.

Because of full bodies nature, Shiraz wines have a very powerful aromas and flavors. Depending on the climate or soil nature, Shiraz tones and flavors can change, create distinct wines between their regions of origin. The most famous Australian Shiraz are Lindemans and Jacobs Creek.

Shiraz is a very rich and intense wine which will remind you of raspberry and cedar. It is a wine which is basically meant to be drunk when the wine is young, preferable within the first five years after bottling. The Shiraz wine can compliments a wide variety of foods. The wine is characterized for it’s robust flavor and high texture. To enjoy the Shiraz, it can be accompanied with meats such as duck, beef, lamb, bear and goose.

To know more about the wine, please visit our wine portal at wine tasting and US wines.