What’s in a name? For wine lovers, it would seem that there is a never-ending series of hard-to-pronounce foreign words. This is because most of the wine grape varieties grown in this country were brought from Europe. The plants kept their names in the language of the country where they are most grown.
According to Wikipedia, vitis vinifera are domesticated grapes originating from wild grapes called vitis sylvestris in Europe. The domestication took place as early as 3500 BC, and the vitis vinifera grape varieties spread into areas known today as Armenia and Georgia. The grapes were transplanted all over the world by European colonists and are believed to have arrived in North America in the 1600’s.
Syrah (pronounced suh-RAH) was brought to America from the Hermitage area of the Rhone Valley in France. According to the book Wine Grape Varieties, there are several theories about where the Syrah grape originated. One story says that they were brought to Hermitage by the hermits from Shiraz in Iran. Another says that the grapes were brought from Syracuse by the Roman legions. The authors of Wine Grape Varieties come down on the side of Wikipedia, however, and say that it is likely the grapes were part of the varieties developed in Europe when domestication of wine grapes took place. Most likely the Syrah variety originated in the Hermitage area. The authors also point out that the grape varieties called Hermitage and Petite Sirah (or Syrah) are not the same thing as Syrah and are totally different varieties.
Syrah is grown widely in France and Australia. A little is grown in Tuscany in Italy and also in Argentina. In California Syrah in grown mainly in the South Central Coast region. Syrah also grows well in certain parts of New Mexico. Tierra Encantada has about 350 vines in its San Vicente vineyard in Veguita, NM (south of Belen off of NM 304). The plants are vigorous and produce well.
Most importantly, Syrah grapes produce wonderful, fruity delicious wines. All of the wine grape varieties domesticated in Europe were nurtured for their wonderful fruit and the quality of the wines that could be made from the fruit. It is possible to find 100% Syrah wines, but Syrah grapes are often blended with Grenache, Mourvedre and Viognier in France to produce more complex, complete wines. Australian Shiraz wines are often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon.
The New Mexico Vine and Wine Society has a yearly conference. A few years ago the conference featured a wine tasting of Syrah wines from France, the US and Australia. The wines tasted very distinctive according to winegrowing region and winemaking style. For instance, the Syrah grapes in America and Australia get much riper before picking than do the French grapes. The amount of sugar in the grapes at harvest greatly affects the taste of the finished product. If the participants had not known that the wines were all Syrah based, they would not necessarily have guessed that they were all from the same grape. If you would like to learn more about Syrah wines, you can organize your own wine tasting. You local wine shop will be glad to assist you in picking Syrah wines from different areas of the world.
SOURCES: Wikipedia on the Internet. Wine Grape Varieties by George Kerridge and Allan Antcliff, Revised Edition, CSIRO Publishing, Australia, 1999. Oz Clarke’s Wine Atlas by Oz Clarke, Little, Brown and Company, 1995.
Tierra Encantada will soon release a non-vintage blend of 2004 and 2005 Syrah grapes from our San Vicente vineyard. Watch for the availability of this wine on our Wines web page. Better yet, come by our tasting room at 1872 Five Points Road SW in Albuquerque and taste this great wine. See you there! |
Murphy’s Corner
Anything that can possibly go wrong at the winery will.
In the spring and summer many wineries concentrate on bottling to free up tanks and barrels for the new harvest in the fall. The most efficient way to bottle is to have labels printed in advance and ready to apply as the bottle comes off the line. More importantly, a wine must be labeled before it is offered to the public.
The content and appearance of wine labels is regulated by the by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the federal government. The two main steps to getting labels are: 1) get the label approved by the TTB and 2) get the label printed. The TTB allows online submittal of labels, and the process takes at least two weeks. Unless a winery is submitting a label almost identical to one which has been previously approved, the chances are that the initial submission will be returned several times for corrections (for some reason the TTB is not capable of finding all the errors at once and prefers to do corrections in serial.) The good news is that once approved, certain changes may be made in future years without resubmitting the label to the TTB.
After TTB label approval, the winery must get labels printed. The assumption is that the amount of wine to be bottled is known in advance, and the proper quantity of labels are ordered for the number of cases expected.
