2020 | Domaine de Cébène

Syrah is the king of the Rhône and rides the wave of fashion, matching Cabernet Sauvignon in richness, structure and ageability. Its famous, historic home is the Northern Rhône; here its aromatic character includes black pepper, violets, plums, bacon, tar and leather.  It is the origin of such great, powerful wines as Hermitage and Côte Rôtie.  The other archetypal Syrah hails from Australia where it is called Shiraz and is much prized in warm regions such as Barossa.  Here the aromas become more chocolaty with dark, ripe, sweet and spicy flavours.  Producers usually align the style of their wine to one of these two archetypes and label them accordingly as either “Syrah” or “Shiraz”.

Syrah is a vigorous grape variety with a short ripening period making the window for optimum harvesting rather fine.   Its berries are small and dark and tend to shrivel once over ripeness has been reached.   Syrah is widely grown across the world in varying climates. In France it is increasingly used in Provence and the Languedoc alongside other Rhône varieties such as Grenache and Mourvèdre.  Spain is in the midst of Syrah fever and in the New World, it has found success in South Africa, Argentina and Washington State.  Our selection

Red Grenache, or “Garnacha” as the grape is known in Spain, is the world’s fourth most planted variety. Yet, it is less well known, probably because its name is hardly ever seen on a wine label. Grenache tends to produce light-coloured wines with good roundness; brimming with juicy strawberry fruit they show moderate acidity and tannins. Thus the grape is usually blended with other varieties such as Tempranillo in Spain or Syrah in France. 
 
Grenache excels in hot, dry climates and is found in Southern France, Spain and the warm regions of Australia and California. To produce truly excellent wines such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the southern Rhône or Priorat in Spain, yields need to be restricted and great care needs to be taken in making the wines.   Grenache excels as the vine ages and the old abandoned terraces in the Rhône and in Priorat have produced some beautiful old, gnarly vines which create legendary wines with dark, silky tannins and notes of berries, spice, herbs and wild flowers. 

Grenache is also popular in the production of rosé wines, usually bright pink in colour and strawberry-scented as in Tavel, which is dry but blessed with the fruity sweetness of Grenache.  Grenache is becoming increasingly popular in the New World, especially in California and Australia and is also used to make fortified wines such as Banyuls.  Our selection