Syrahed with the same brush: The many layers of Aussie Shiraz
Australia’s signature grape is in a tough spot. As the big dog of black grapes—Shiraz accounted for more than one in five wine grapes harvested in 2024, with more than twice the tonnage of second-placed Cabernet Sauvignon—its tail-between-legs retreat in the popularity stakes looks even starker. It’s cold comfort to report that Australian Shiraz has never been a more exciting proposition for the wine drinker.
The reasons for Shiraz’s fall from grace, at home and abroad, are complex and numerous. It has plenty of diehard fans, and there’s no suggestion that its decline in fortunes is terminal—although it’s hard not to imagine some correction to a planting overdominance that stems, to some extent, from an initial bias towards a handful of French varieties.
Its flag-bearer status means it over-indexes in the bulk commercial wine category, with much of it produced to tick a big, sweet box marked “Aussie Shiraz”. There’s also a whiff of yesteryear about the name Shiraz, harking back to the days when things were black and white, and Aussie blokes just wanted something ripe and rich to go with their meat and two veg.
The days of black and white are well gone. Consumers—and perhaps, to a greater extent, gatekeepers—are used to glorious technicolour regarding choices. And fair enough; wine’s head-spinning diversity is one of its attractions. But to write Shiraz off as has-been or mainstream mediocrity would be to miss out on a host of singular and surprising treasures.
In 2019—my first year of judging at Melbourne Royal Wine Awards—it was heartening to witness the introduction of a Shiraz trophy by state. Suddenly, the smorgasbord of styles from across this vast land was no longer lumped into one giant category. The move literally championed this grape’s quality and diversity.
I tasted through the Shiraz classes at last year's Melbourne Royal Exhibitor's Tasting, and it struck me that the scope of pleasures offered by the best wines surpassed all other varieties. In her message accompanying the 2024 results, Chair of Judges Mel Chester captured that range well. "Choosing between the state trophy winners was no easy task: from a structured and plush SA Shiraz, a spicy and fragrant Tasmanian entry, gravelly and bold ACT and NSW wines, a slinky and savoury Victorian Shiraz, to a juicy and powerful WA wine, each required careful deliberation," she wrote.
Australian Chardonnay provides an interesting contrast. Its PR team is doing a sterling job. The flame burns bright from top to bottom of the market, it seems. By far, the most planted white grape variety—and marginally pipping Shiraz as no.1 in the national crush—is now favoured with a state-by-state trophy in Melbourne. It’s celebrated for good reason; there’s a lot of exhilarating Chardonnay out there. But I’d argue that the winemaker’s imprint is stronger, and the stamp of place less marked, than with Shiraz. In other words, at the elite level, Chardonnay is more style-driven, while our top red grape has the edge on regionality and site signature. Cool-climate darling Pinot Noir—just 3% of the Aussie crush but top in our red-wine affections—gets all the kudos in this regard. I love Pinot Noir and don’t want to cut a tall poppy down, but it’s interesting how the halo donned by the finest shines bright on many less-than-angelic examples. Shiraz, on the other hand, is often denied the credit it's due. And that means wine-lovers are denying themselves a good deal of enjoyment, often with the kicker of some damn good value.
A lot of Australia's most talented winemakers work with Shiraz, and many of them are farming or accessing sites whose merits they understand and know how to tease out. Established Shiraz heartlands—Hunter Valley, Grampians, Barossa, McLaren Vale et al—realise the playing field has widened and are raising their game accordingly. The likes of Yarra Valley, Canberra District, Adelaide Hills and Great Southern are hardly new to the sport, and they, with plenty more besides, are showing dazzling form. A Mornington Peninsula wine, 2022 Devil's Baie Syrah+, took out the Shiraz Blends trophy at the 2024 National Wine Show. Is nowhere off limits? One of the most alluring examples that's crossed my path lately was Voyager Estate’s 2023 Syrah from Margaret River, a region so blessed with Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon that making decent Shiraz seems downright greedy.
Australian Shiraz, then. In a tough spot, and yet in a very good place—almost everywhere.
Below are four wines I tasted together recently and loved, giving them a gold-medal score in a blind lineup. They illustrate the above points nicely.
2022 Ravensworth Shiraz Viognier Canberra District RRP $53
The wine: Ravensworth’s Bryan Martin made Australia’s most famous rendition of this style for 15 years at Clonakilla. The 2022 is a co-fermented blend of Shiraz (97%) and Viognier (3%). The fruit grows at 650 metres on the Murrumbateman estate vineyard’s 25-year-old vines in soils rich in decomposed granite and red, loamy clay. The fruit was mainly processed as whole berries (10% bunches) in cuve, spending four weeks on skins before being pressed to old barrique for 12 months. It was then racked to seasoned Stockinger foudre, where it rested for a further 12 months before being bottled without fining or filtration.
My note (tasted blind): Very bright, engaging purple colour. Fruity, apricot lift, red plum and cherry, definite white pepper streak here, too. Inviting, fresh entry, stony and orchard-like feel. Medium-bodied and powdery with a stone fruit kernel firmness; plenty of fruit flow around the edges. Convincing, long carry; ferrous with a strong floral flourish at the end. A bit of a vapour trail of red fruit, nuttiness, flowers and some liqueur richness. The stony sappiness of this wine is enticing, as is the powdery dispersion of flavour.
2023 Lambert Syrah Yarra Valley, Victoria RRP $49
The wine: His reputation with Australian Nebbiolo can cause one to overlook Luke Lambert's across-the-board prowess. For feel, composure and detail, his Syrah takes some beating. This grows on the sunnier western side of the Yarra Valley's Denton Hill Vineyard at the top of the slope, where soil is thin and yields are low. 80% bunches were included in 2023. In the early days of vinification, the ferments are foot-stomped three times a day to quickly but gently pop the berries, maximising the juice’s exposure to skins and stalks. Ferments are fast, and the wine is promptly pressed, settled and racked to 5000-litre foudre for maturation.
My note (tasted blind): Lovely colour. Floral notes (peony and violet), cherry, blueberry, graphite and meat; a very bright presentation of fruit. Silky with some firmness and cherry pit on the palate. Lovely, slow-unfurling tannin feel on an effortless palate and a skip of acidity on the clean, well-melded, wet-slate finish. Exciting energy, buoyancy and a dash of spice. A touch of crunch, too. Super length.
2022 Murdoch Hill Landau Syrah Adelaide Hills, South Australia RRP $56
The wine: Murdoch Hill is one of those proving beyond doubt that the best Adelaide Hills Syrah is a match for anyone. Landau comes from a single parcel of vines at Murdoch Hill’s Landau block in Oakbank. It’s a predominately east-facing slope at 400 metres above sea level on shallow, red loam soils with varying levels of schist rock and a vein of ironstone. The vines were planted in 1998. The 2022 fermented with 20% whole bunches and was raised in older oak puncheons (15% new) and demi-muids for 10 months.
My note (tasted blind): Quite a bit of curry-leaf reduction—a bit much at first, clouding the aromas. Looking through, there’s red fruit, blue flowers, a touch of cardamom. As it clears, there’s a zestiness to its black cherry, whole bunch spice and black pepper. Nice, juicy, ripe fruit entry with restrained sweetness. Good oak application—seamless integration with aroma and framing, and palate has crunch and flow in equal measure. Round, polished tannins. Intrigue in the mouth; you can’t help but follow, and it unfurls nicely. Spicy, pippy, bit of cherry pit. Really nice pitch with acidity holding sweetness in check. With (plenty of) air, this shows complexity, composure and harmony.
2021 Spinifex La Maline Shiraz Eden Valley, South Australia RRP $80
The wine: I love what Pete Schell and Magali Gely are doing at Spinifex. Excellent, thoughtful wines across whites, rosé and reds. 2021 La Maline is a batch selection drawn from their own Rostein vineyard and an adjacent site in the High Eden. At 490 metres, the plantings are 70 and 20 years of age respectively, dry-grown on skeletal, sandy granitic soils. The fruit is hand-harvested and ferments with indigenous yeasts in open oak and steel fermenters for between 12 and 21 days before pressing. The 2021 saw between 30 and 45% whole bunches in the ferments, and 2% pressed Viognier marc was included in the must. Maturation occurred in French oak barriques and demi-muids (approximately 40% new) on light lees for 20 months before blending and bottling.
My note (tasted blind): Alpine herbs, lavender, violets, dark cherries, blue fruit, sweet spice, black pepper, cherry liqueur, orange peel, vanilla. How’s that complexity? Pickled cherries and a touch of olive. Glossy texture with tannins of fine grain. I particularly like the late, rolling wave to this. This has a lot more to give, too. Uncanny how rich, deep and seductive this is with no heaviness.
