This terroir, a combination of surprising elevation and ancient sedimentary soils, blesses our famous riesling grapes, but lesser known are the equally exceptional shiraz and cabernet sauvignon from the region. Now that Shiraz has become well known and popular, some wineries in the US who are making an “Australian style wine” with this grape are calling their wines Shiraz as well.
“But today we know all of that is wrong.“Testing was done by two different labs,” he continues. The first evidence of grape cultivation in Shiraz came around BC2500, when vines were brought down from the mountains to the plains of southwest Iran, the professor added. efore the Iranian Revolution, the city of Shiraz was at the heart of a thriving wine-making industry. She’d set an agenda that continues today, experimenting with new methods in wine production. We use cookies to personalise content, tailor and measure ads, and provide a better browsing experience.
In 1844 the fledging vineyard was officially established as the Penfolds wine company at Magill Estate.As the company grew, so too did Dr Penfold’s medical reputation, leaving much of the running of the winery to Mary Penfold. Mary’s reign at the helm of Penfolds saw years of determination and endeavour.By the time Mary Penfold retired in 1884 (ceding management to her daughter, Georgina) Penfolds was producing 1/3 of all South Australia’s wine. But, in reality, the grape is French and the name is an Australian affectation. “The plant – scyras – was originally brought from Shiraz in Persia.”At that time European wine-makers sometimes imported wine from Persia to add sweetness and body.So perhaps Busby hoped the ancient name Shiraz would add some Persian mystique and flavour to his New World wine-making endeavour.The United States imported Syrah vines in the 1970s and the wine is always marketed under the Syrah name – with one notable exception.Darioush Khaledi, a son of Shiraz, is the proud owner of a 120-acre vineyard in California’s Napa Valley producing what he insists on calling Shiraz wine.“My French friends say Shiraz/Syrah comes from the Rhone and [has] a 500-year-old history,” he says. Having the appearance of syrah but with smaller berries, they called it petite syrah, later swapping the “y” for “i” for easier distinction. A loyal company man and true innovator, Schubert would propel Penfolds onto the global stage with his experimentation of long-lasting wines - the creation of Penfolds Grange in the 1950s.In 1959 (while Schubert was perfecting his Grange experiment in secret), the tradition of ‘bin wines’ began. Visitors from California’s nascent wine industry brought rootstock back with them and found it successful in their drier hotter vineyards. The entrance to the main building is lined with Persian-style columns reminiscent of the ancient city of Persepolis.The day we visit, his marketing manager Dan de Polo is holding a wine tasting for a group of Chinese buyers.“What’s great about Shiraz is that it’s always been a very soulful wine,” he tells them.Soulfulness, spirit and poetry – words that come up time and again when talking about Shiraz wine.And for Darioush, and for me, I think that is what matters most.It is not about the DNA of the grapes, it is about the link Shiraz offers us to the spirit of our faraway homeland and the romance of its fabled wine.Music, poetry and wine-drinking at the court of 17th Century Persian ruler Shah AbbasDoes this ancient jar hold the key to the provenance of Shiraz?The wine-pourer or “saghi” had a special role in the ritual of Persian royal banquets.Syrah grapes at the world famous Hermitage vineyard in southern FranceJames Busby, seen as the father of the Australian wine industryPersian-style columns at the entrance to the Darioush winery in Napa Valley BBC journalist and wine expert Anahita Shams goes on a fascinating journey of discovery, from the Neolithic wine makers of Georgia to the courts of the Persian Shahs. Trader Joe's has quite a reputation when it comes to wine.. After all, each of the grocer's line of signature Charles Shaw wines sells for just $3.99. In 2012 Penfolds released its most innovative project to date - 12 handcrafted ampoules of the rare 2004 Kalimna Block Cabernet Sauvignon. The Secret History of Shiraz Wine (2017 TV Movie) Plot. That is a wine of a different grape. “It was a wine with good conservation because generally the local wines very quickly turned to vinegar.”But is there a connection between the “dark red wine that smells like musk” immortalised by Hafez, and the Shiraz wine drunk across the world today?The first stop in my research is one of France’s most famous vineyards in the Rhone valley in the south and home to the Syrah vine.According to local legend, the Hermitage vineyard was founded by a 13th Century knight called Gaspard de Sterimberg, who brought back a Persian vine from the Crusades.The names Syrah and Shiraz are often used interchangeably. The grape is called Syrah in the US, France and many countries.
The first, a Shiraz wine with the grapes of the company’s own Barossa Valley vineyards was simply named after the storage area of the cellars where it is aged. But do not confuse Sirah with Petite Sirah, also known as Durif in Australia and France. “It was an adventure.”The world Darioush remembers came to an end in 1979 when Iran’s new Islamic rulers banned alcohol.They shut down wineries, ripped up commercial vineyards and consigned to history a culture stretching back thousands of years.An ancient clay jar has pride of place at the University of Pennsylvania museum in Philadelphia in the US.It was one of six discovered by a team of American archaeologists at a site in the Zagros mountains in northern Iran in 1968.The jars date back to the Neolithic period more than 7,000 years ago, and provide the first scientific proof of the ancient nature of Iranian wine production.Chemical analysis on one of them revealed that a dark stain at the bottom was actually wine residue.“This is the oldest chemically-identified wine jar in the world,” says Prof Patrick McGovern.The first evidence of grape cultivation in Shiraz came around 2,500 BC, when vines were brought down from the mountains to the plains of south-west Iran, the professor says.By the 14th Century, Shiraz wine was immortalized in the poetry of Hafez, whose tomb in the city is still venerated today.“Last night, the wise tavern master deciphered the enigma,” he wrote.