The Ash Creek Papers

Try it, you’ll like it!  Or maybe you won’t.  That’s the conundrum… a seemingly endless sea of wine, different wines, different vintages, different labels.  It’s all so confusing.  And when all is said and done, it’s still a matter of trying something that is a new and different, or resigning yourself to opening the same bottle of wine each time.  Same wine each time?  How boring is that?

What to do?  You can certainly read up on stuff… Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, International Wine Cellar, Decanter… excellent monthly publications.  You can learn a lot.  The New York Times has a column on Wednesday and the Wall St. Journal has one on Friday.  You can learn even more.

Good ratings from the monthlies and editorial endorsements from the weeklies are well and good; but you drink wine for your pleasure, not for Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate or Eric Asimov of the New York Times.  A great rating speaks for the quality of the wine, not whether you will like it.

Read all you want.  The best way to learn is to taste.  And the best way to taste is to take advantage of Wine Tastings when there is an opportunity to try several wines in comparison. Wineries are a sure bet; but it could also be at a shop that specializes in wines… or how about in the home?

Here are several ways to look at wine…

Vertical Tasting. This is looking at the same wine but in several vintages. There is no finer way to experience how wine evolves over time than to try the same Napa Cab, for example;  but in different vintages.  Maybe the current vintage was rated as better; but the vintage from three years ago is drinking better?  A text book on how wine improves with additional bottle age.

Horizontal Tasting. The same wine type, different producers, but in the same vintage. Perhaps all Cabernet Sauvignons from the 2005 Vintage; but from different zones… Rutherford Bench, Oakville, Howell Mountain & etc.  Or several Bordeaux from their great 2005 Vintage.  This type of tasting provides a clue as to the variables of vineyard and winemaking quality, and how both will have an impact on price.  And isn’t it fun to enjoy a more modest Bordeaux from the Cotes de Blaye than a Classified Growth from Margaux?

Same Grape, Different Country. Interest in Pinot Noir is at an all time high. But this varietal is known for its finicky disposition.  It is a varietal that is sensitive to both climate and soil and the wines produced from this fickle grape can be dramatically different region from region, country from country.  Differences abound in Chardonnay and many other varietals, too.

Blind Tasting. Putting several wines in bags to cover their labels is perhaps the best way to focus on the taste of wine.  Be prepared to be surprised.  Also know that it can be a bit unsettling to try something when you are stripped of your predisposed preferences… the “I-don’t-like-Merlot” can be in for fall when that is chosen as a favorite wine in the tasting flight. This is a humbling exercise, and it is the quickest way to level the playing field between experienced and inexperienced wine tasters.

Potpourri Tasting. A tasting doesn’t have to be overly organized.  The wines can simply follow the course of an evening, or the dinner being served.  Begin with a sparkling wine as an aperitif, enjoy a lighter white wine, follow it with a white with a more robust structured nature, then a couple of reds… a fresh red and then one with greater complexity, and then conclude with a dessert wine.  Hey!  It’s supposed to be fun!

Sure… reading about wine can’t help but develop an interest in wine… to add knowledge.  But if you want to learn about wine, you have to taste it.  Taste, taste and taste again. Assume that you will like some over others.  But the more you taste, the more you will understand why a certain wine, given the time of the year, given the food being served, given the company that you are sharing it with, given your mood, will be the right wine.  And often the right wine, given all the variables, will not be your “favorite” wine.

Wine is only boring when you treat it as just a form of flavoured alcohol.  Wine is all about variety.  OK.  Go taste! 

You say tomato, I say tomahto.  Yes, Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape varietal (and Petite Sirah – known as Durif in France– is a completely a different varietal and a story for a different day).

Its origin is traced back to one of the World’s oldest viticultural zones in Ancient Persia and to one of its principle cities, Shiraz.  How the vine found its way to the Rhone Valley, in what is today France, is somewhat in dispute. It’s a good possibility that the Phocaeans from Asia Minor who founded Marseille in 600BC brought the vines with them.  Or possibly it was introduced by the Roman Legions via Egypt and Syracuse.  Ruling the World builds a mighty thirst… Rome and their Legionnaires loved their wine.

Either way, by 71AD viticulture had certainly made its way to the central and northern portions of the Rhone Valley where Syrah would find a home in what would become known as Hermitage and Cote Rotie.  It is here that Syrah would find its greatest expression.

Hermitage produced dark, rich and brooding wines filled with complex aromas of black plum, violets, spice and an incredible meatiness… not for the faint of heart, nor for the casual imbiber.  In the 19^th Century, the Hermitage Vineyards set just to the north of the City of Tain, les Rocoules, le Meal, les Bessards & etc., were ranked along side of Ch. Lafite and Romanee-Conti as the finest wines of the World.

The house of E. Guigal would put the stamp of excellence in the Cote Rotie.  Their luxury bottlings of La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne (known collectively as the “La La’s”) are harder to get than First Growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy.

If the quality of this varietal remained just a creature of the Northern Rhone, then perhaps this story would not have been written.  And certainly the vine is seen elsewhere.  Syrah is planted in the Southern Rhone as well, where it is one of the red grapes that is used in the recipe for many Chateauneuf du Papes.  And in the huge region of Midi, use of Syrah as a blending grape is credited with raising up the over all quality of wine throughout the French south.

Where the grape has achieved its greatest lift has been in Australia, where it is known by its “other” name: Shiraz.  It is likely that James Busby brought Syrah to Australia as part of the 400 vine cuttings that he brought to that part of the world in 1832.  It was written, “Scyras… an excellent grapes, and promises to be at least equally valuable for red wine as the Verdeilho is for white.”

With an abundant grape yield, Shiraz became the most planted red varietal in Australia. But it was Max Schubert winemaker of Penfolds, taken by the wines of the Northern Rhone on a trip there in 1951, who would launch Syrah into Aussie stardom.  He began to tinker with the grape and produced an “experimental” wine he called Grange.  A huge wine, made in a rich fruit abundant style, more than any other wine, Penfold’s Grange caught the attention of the wine world.  Grange became a defining wine of what could be produced in Australia.

Giovanni Manetti of Italy also fell under the spell of Guigal’s achievement in the Rhone and brought back Syrah cuttings to his Estate, Fontodi, in Tuscany where his

Casa Via Syrah has earned huge praise in the critical press.

The same story can be repeated in Napa, where David Ramey, considered by many to be one of the finest makers of Cabernet Sauvignon, has taken a plunge into making Syrah.

Indeed, Syrah is capturing the imagination of wine growers from every corner of the globe.  It takes well to the steep rocky hillsides of the Priorat in Spain, to the soft hillsides of Stellenbosch and Paarl in South Africa (where it is also known as Shiraz), and to the “Super Tuscan” zone in Tuscany’s Bolgheri Coast.

For lovers of richly styled reds, Syrah stands with Cabernet Sauvignon as offering the satisfying depth regardless of growing region.  Greater finesse in the vineyards of the Northern Rhone, more lush fruit from the vineyards of Barossa. Wines to be savoured on their own merit, or enjoyed with hearty meat and game dishes.