Few grapes have travelled the world as successfully as Shiraz. Born in France, made famous in Australia and now thriving everywhere from South Africa to California, it’s one of the most widely planted red varieties on the planet – and one of the most versatile, capable of everything from savoury, peppery elegance to rich, velvety power.

Why the fourth Thursday of July?

A Sydney-based wine marketing agency called Mastermind Consulting established International Shiraz Day in 2020. The agency chose the fourth Thursday in July, as it falls in the depths of the Southern Hemisphere winter, when a glass of warming Shiraz feels just right. However, it also neatly coincides with barbecue season north of the equator.

If you’re posting about the event, the official hashtag is #shirazwineday, not #shirazday. The latter belongs to a different celebration entirely, held each May in honour of the Iranian city of Shiraz.

French roots, Persian myths

That Iranian connection is no coincidence. According to popular folklore, the grape originated in the ancient Persian city, before Crusaders or pilgrims brought it to France. It was a nice story, but DNA testing in 1998 finally settled the matter.

Shiraz is in fact a native French grape, the natural offspring of two obscure varieties from south-eastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche.

The grape’s spiritual home is the northern Rhône, where it is known as Syrah. It produces the legendary wines of Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie – savoury, perfumed reds layered with black pepper, smoked meat, olive and violet alongside the dark fruit. There’s a separate celebration, International Syrah Day, held annually on February 16, to honour the grape.

Two names, one global grape

Shiraz and Syrah are genetically identical, but the two names have come to signal two broad styles. ‘Syrah’ usually points to the restrained, savoury European model, while ‘Shiraz’ – the name adopted when the grape reached Australia in the 1830s – suggests a bolder, riper, fruit-forward wine.

Today the grape flourishes on almost every wine-producing continent. Australia remains its most famous New World home, from the old-vine blockbusters of the Barossa Valley to elegant cool-climate examples from the Adelaide Hills and Yarra Valley.

South Africa’s Stellenbosch and Swartland regions produce smoky, spice-laden wines that split the difference between the two styles, while California’s Paso Robles and Washington State lean plush and powerful. Chile and Argentina offer superb value, and even Spain, Italy and New Zealand have carved out their own takes on the grape. Wherever it grows, Shiraz keeps its signature: dark fruit, warmth and that unmistakable crack of black pepper.

International Shiraz Day is the perfect excuse to open something special. Fire up the barbecue, pour a generous glass and join the celebration.

15 award-winning Syrah wines to explore from DWWA 2026

Australia

Ferngrove, The Orchid Collection Dragon Shiraz, Frankland River, Western Australia 2023
Best in Show, 97 points
There's a lot more to Western Australia than just Margaret River, as all those who love Australian wines will know – but, until this year, no other region in this vast state has managed to win its way through to Best In Show. Happily, this outstanding Shiraz from Frankland River, one of the star zones in the vast expanse of Great Southern, has come bustling through this year to stake its claim. Our judges applauded the refinement, delicacy, purity and limpidity of this poised Shiraz midweight: floral perfumes suffusing red-fruit charm dominate the aromas, while the palate is ‘classy, effortless and long’, and sees the fruits modulating towards something just a little bit more savoury, though the full development of these characters will need to wait a year or two longer. It has texture, and acidity is well-judged, balanced and unobtrusive. Poise and refreshment await you. Alcohol 14.5%

Château Tanunda, 100 Year Old Vines Shiraz, Barossa, South Australia 2022
Platinum, 97 points
Generous blueberry, black pepper and milk chocolate aromas unravel onto the salivating palate, seamlessly integrating satin tannins and a warming shortbread backbone. Rippling violet florals gather steam ahead of the long, rousing finish. Definitive terroir portrayal. Alc 14.5%

E.J. McDougall, Old Vine Shiraz, McLaren Vale, South Australia 2024
Platinum, 97 points
A masterstroke of the Rhone-style in an Australian context, emanating dark floral, purple fruit and gun powder aromas. Intoxicating and intense with elegant structure and a quivering pink peppercorn nerve that captures the mood perfectly. Alc 14.5%

Hare's Chase, Vigilance Marananga Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia 2022
Platinum, 97 points
Lashings of plum, blackcurrant and mulberry charm decadently complemented by a splash of soy sauce. Big and bold, furnished with velvety tannins, enriching fleshy texture and commanding pencil-shaving length. Plenty more to give in the future. Alc 14.5%

Katnook Estate, Prodigy Shiraz, Coonawarra, South Australia 2024
Platinum, 97 points
Bountiful blackberry, dark cherry, plum and damson fruit on a backdrop of eucalyptus and floral violet lift. Wonderfully silky smooth with a tangy acid momentum and fine, shapely tannins. Deliciously long, projecting incredible regional character. Alc 14.4%

Monteperle, Vineyard Selection Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia 2024
Platinum, 97 points
An all-consuming blackberry, liquorice and tar fragrance sizzles implacably around the nose, conjoining with spine-tingling peppery spice on the palate. A contemporary style, with abounding plush juiciness enveloping the core and varnishing the powerful finish. Alc 15.1%

Argentina

Bodega Puna, 2600 Syrah, Cachi, Salta 2025
Gold, 95 points
Pungent blue fruit, violet and black pepper perfume shimmers across the nose, diving into the concentrated palate with its tense acidity and full, distinguished tannins. Alc 13.1%

France

Maison Delas Frères, Seigneur De Maugiron, Côte Rotie, Rhône 2023
Best in Show, 97 points
Eleven Best In Show appearances for the Rhône Valley but never a Côte Rôtie… until this year. It's a wine from the 2023 vintage – a very good one in Côte Rôtie, since the deluge of rain that affected other parts of the Northern Rhône in mid-September spared this northernmost appellation almost entirely, and the slow start to the summer accelerated gratifyingly during an August when the terraces genuinely roasted. We don't, as we taste, know the precise vineyard sources for this wine, but in style it seems more Brune than Blonde: dark in colour, with splendidly smoky, tapenade-like aromas (some found undergrowth and stone) rather than pronounced floral lift, while the palate is poised, lively and vivacious but underscored by ample backbone and tension, too. Look out for the salty finish behind the fruits and the attractively forthright tannins. It's both classic and generous and would make a good prospect for ageing – though there's nothing overly forbidding for those who would like to start sooner. Alc 13%

Domaine De Castelnau, L'Etendoir des Fées, IGP Pays d'Oc, Languedoc-Roussillon 2023
Platinum, 97 points
Sensational tapenade, black pepper and herb aromas lead the charge, colliding diligently with the blackberry juice intensity that flows liberally through to the finish line. Such amazing typicity, the sort of wine to dive right into. Alc 14.5%

Spain

Bodegas Piqueras, Nature Syrah, Almansa 2025
Gold, 95 points
Inspiring, fresh and approachable, combining black cherry and lifted floral aromas that flow continuously across the palate. Textural and fluid with polished tannins and appealing length. Alc 14.5%

United States

Hoquetus Wine Co., Francisca's Vineyard Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, Washington State 2023
Gold, 95 points
Earthy and robust with abundant tapenade, black pepper and dark berry aromas. Chewy oak tannins and meaty texture with a dusting of tobacco to end. Alc 14%

South Africa

Boschendal, Grande Syrah, Stellenbosch 2022
Gold, 95 points
A scrumptious array of beef rib-eye, mocha, dark cherry and prune aromas that swirl around the leathery texture and sleek tannins. Resplendent in charm and poise. Alc 14%

Kasteelberg, Carbonic Syrah, Swartland 2025
Gold, 95 points
Glorious blackberry, violet and rose petal aromatics tempered by a savouring black olive dimension. Crisp and bright with a glossy textural veneer. Evocative high altitude style. Alc 13.9%

New Zealand

Greystone Wines, Vineyard Ferment Syrah, Canterbury 2023
Platinum, 97 points
Wonderfully executed Syrah, spot on for its sense of place and character; black cherry, pomegranate, raspberry and black pepper spice thrives on the nose, tapered by the smart mineral core and effortless fluidity. Exquisitely long. Alc 13.%

Mudbrick Vineyard, Oscar, Waiheke Island, Auckland 2024
Gold, 96 points
Cool-toned dark cherry, blackcurrant and plum amplified by a black peppercorn and herbal elegance. Svelte and luxurious with salivating acidity and taffeta tannins to complete. Alc 14%

Search all DWWA 2026 results

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Spring is here, bringing with it the promise of the Easter feast. Roast lamb, fresh spring greens, cakes, buns and chocolate galore – but what to pair with them?

Here at Decanter we’ve put our heads together and decided on a few favourite Easter pairings – with a few illustrative examples selected from our extensive database.

If you’re looking for ways to properly break your Lenten fast, therefore, let this be your guide. And hopefully you won’t overdo it and need reviving yourself come Easter Monday.

Roast Lamb

The centrepiece of many an Easter lunch. Now, there are of course many ways to prepare roast lamb, but we’ll assume something quite classic to begin with.

There are two intrinsic pairings with roast lamb – claret and Rioja. And a family occasion like Easter is always a good excuse to break out a bottle of something good with a bit of age, the tannins nicely folded into the fruit to match the succulence of the meat.

It goes without saying that any good Bordeaux will do but Pauillac is the absolute classic (St-Julien works just as well though).

For Rioja get hold of a Reserva or Gran Reserva for preference, though the older the better particularly in the case of a Gran Reserva.

Our Spain Editor, Ines Salpico, has another suggestion for those Hispanically inclined; Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez's Gaba Mencía from Valdeorras in Galicia.

She writes: 'A core of fleshy sour cherry, red plum, beetroot and cranberry is cloaked in tomato leaf, tarragon and violets - all held by a fine but firm acid line.'

Meanwhile, if you’re leaning Italian then Sangiovese-based wines also pair well with lamb – as does Syrah.

And if you’re opting for a more North African-inspired lamb recipe then why not opt for the late Alain Graillot’s extremely delicious Syrah du Maroc?

For more in-depth suggestions about pairing wine and lamb, see this article.

Asparagus and spring greens

As a moveable feast, Easter occasionally crosses paths with the very start of asparagus season – one of the trickiest green vegetables to pair with wine.

Luckily you can always chop them up and mix them in with other seasonal vegetables like cabbage, broad beans and carrots.

Obviously what we want here are lovely, zingy white wines. Our France Editor, Natalie Earl, has suggests Mas Bruguière’s Les Muriers ('practically spring in a glass!').

Crisp Sauvignon Blanc never goes amiss in the circumstances. Take your pick from French, Kiwi, South African – even Austrian.

Speaking of Austria, a little Grüner Veltliner is an ideal Spring sipper. And looking further south, I can’t help but feel that southern Italian whites – Fiano, Greco and Falanghina – with their lemon and bitter almond character are just the ticket as the weather starts to warm up.

Cakes and almonds

From the fruit and marzipan-laden Simnel cake to a beautiful golden sponge topped with icing sugar, Easter is alive with cake options.

Pairing wines with cakes is supremely underrated – but tricky.

Natalie Earl to the rescue again with a fortified Muscat de Cap Corse – ‘a veritable feast for the senses, especially the nose. It exudes honey, orange, candied peel, brandy, orange liqueur, spice, roses and ginger, forming a wonderfully exotic aromatic display.’

One to try with Simnel cake?

Continuing in the sweet vein, a small glass of Vin Santo or Vinsanto (Tuscan or Greek as you prefer) seems an estimable choice with many cake types.

There’s also something to be said for sparkling wines with cake in my opinion. You could opt for Champagne (after all why not?) but the lighter style of a good Prosecco (from Conegliano Valdobbiadene or Asolo) or the fruity sweetness of Moscato d’Asti would do just fine something lighter.

Finally, for Lisbon-born Ines Salpico, Easter means almonds. And there’s only one thing to pair with a fistful of almonds and that’s a cold glass of Fino or Manzanilla Sherry.

Accept no substitutes.

Hot cross buns

The greatest of all Easter treats – the hot cross bun. Filled with spices, peel and currants, served hot and dripping with butter.

The best pairing is – it goes without saying – a Very British Cup of Tea.

But I must say I thoroughly approve of the suggestion of a glass of Marsala with this noble sweet bun.

And one might follow up with other oxidative fortifieds; Madeira and old tawny Port perhaps?

Now there’s a Paschal Triduum if ever I saw one.

And chocolate…

Don’t pair wine with chocolate, it’s a terrible idea.

Though if you really must... see some recommendations here.

Easter wine recommendations

Examples listed below (except those explicitly referred to) are illustrative of those mentioned in the text.

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Tasmania is Australia’s smallest state, a coven of those who seek change from the mainland cities, or a cadence away from the mainstream. There is that rare species, too, that was simply born there.

The bucolic undulations of Tasmania’s north, from the Tamar to Pipers River, are juxtaposed against the salt-bitten ruggedness of the east coast and the drier Derwent and Coal river valleys, where consistency of crop and proximity to the state capital Hobart account for a concentration of wineries.

Further south, sunlight jitters between gum leaves, vineyards and the road’s next bend, revealing silver bays-cum-cobalt tributaries in which fishing boats nestle in the Huon valley.

The Apple Isle has long been secure in its moorings as a spectacular place to grow grapes, traditionally those for sparkling wine and still Pinot Noir. Looking at Tasmania’s landscape today, it’s fascinating to ponder the veracity of empirical barometers such as sunlight hours and latitude – solid, sensible and traditional dictates for planting the likes of Riesling, now increasingly being pulled up or grafted over to more commercially viable options, despite superb examples from the likes of Stargazer and Pooley. Sauvignon Blanc, too, is going the way of the dodo.

Today, Chardonnay makes up just over 26% of Tasmania’s total plantings, while Meunier plantings are growing. These varieties are mostly used for fizz, the state’s most popular wine style, but also for still wines, reflecting global trends favouring whites and friskier reds. Of this lighter idiom, but far from the madding crowd of commercial obviousness, is Stoney Rise, Trousseau 2024. Energetic and eclectic, this delicious wine exhibits notes of distilled cherry, bound by a mandala of sinuous tannins, attesting to Tasmania’s capacity for diversity.

When established trains of thought are challenged, we ask whether there is something else; whether there are alternatives to the status quo. Climate change is shattering preconceptions with a velocity that can make established norms feel anachronistic, forcing us to be open to discovery, or to cling doggedly to that sinking ship of hyperbolic scores, rich wines and Boomer affectations.

Factors including soil structure and geology help determine quality vineyard sites and appropriate plantings, yet alignments once benign are increasingly malignant, as shade and elevation find favour in the quest to obviate heat and UV intensity in warmer regions, while peripatetic weather patterns in Tasmania are sublimated to a search for warmer, protected pockets to ripen grapes. What was once a bane is often a virtue as the environment’s variable nature challenges the vinous establishment.

A recent tasting of still Tasmanian wines did just that. While Pinot Noir was the inevitable focus, attendees expressed unsolicited support for Syrah. The irrefutable quality of many wines suggests that this later-ripening variety represents an exciting new frontier as the climate warms. Yet official figures indicate little statistical enthusiasm. Syrah plantings remain stagnant overall, nudging just under 2% of the state’s total. No wonder, since earlier renditions (then called Shiraz) largely bring recollections of ungenerous wines marked by the bitter astringency of an ill-suited climate.

Misguidedly, certain producers sought to emulate headier South Australian bottlings via extraction and oak. But today, a raft of midweight wines dabbed with lilac, tapenade, blue fruits and smoked meat touch on the cracked-pepper vibrato of the northern Rhône, tempered by Aussie generosity.

Impressive examples come from Stefano Lubiana and hughes & hughes, and a ferrous, almost sinewy expression from Grey Sands, parrying with a svelte, fine-boned one from Marion’s Vineyard. Syrah makes sense, perhaps, if Tasmania is understood through a logic of specific sites that combat coldness, rather than the holistic Pinot-centric narrative of the establishment.

In my glass this month

Claudio Radenti of Freycinet Vineyard crafts fine Syrah. His overall parlance is cool climate, yet he focuses on ‘north- to east- facing warmer slopes, sheltered from winds’. The 2017 Shiraz (yes, that word) has now aged impressively, while the younger-vine Louis Syrah 2021 is electric, taut and redolent of souk spices.

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Peter Gago, chief winemaker at Penfolds, leaves none of his winemaking dreams unfulfilled. His ambition to always have Penfolds’ elite Grange Shiraz in the thick of conversations about the world’s great wines has been elevated to new heights with a second vintage release of Grange La Chapelle.

Gago’s dream of combining Grange, a signature of southern hemisphere Shiraz, with La Chapelle, a monarch of the Rhône, in a single wine became a reality in early 2021.

A cheeky question directed to long-time friend Caroline Frey, then head winemaker at Domaine de la Chapelle, led to serious discussions about a viable collaboration.

The initial release of Grange La Chapelle 2021 in 2025 – an audacious French and Australian wine affair – caused shockwaves. The latest release shows serious continued intent for this star-aligned blend.

‘By uniting two iconic wines, this collaboration achieves something truly groundbreaking. As a vine grower, as a winemaker, it’s so magical, I would have never even dared to imagine it,’ commented Frey.

‘No-one in the world has ever blended two such legendary terroirs. It’s like Picasso and Dalí painting on the same canvas – an idea so extraordinary it almost feels too incredible to be real.’

Shiraz under the spotlight

When Penfolds winemaker Max Schubert created Grange in 1951, he made no secret of his admiration for and the inspiration provided by the great La Chapelle wines. He named his initial vintages ‘Grange Hermitage’ as a tribute – until French legal intervention saw the term removed from the Grange label in 1990.

Schubert’s vision to realise the most powerful, elegant and long-lived expression of Shiraz from Australian vineyards has remained a constant through a succession of Grange winemakers.

Now Gago’s responsibility, he wants to take assertive action as Shiraz appears to be drifting away from the nucleus of elite wine analysis. He believes that combining the most recent vintages of Grange with La Chapelle in a superstar blend offers a platform for more serious and focused conversations about Shiraz among the world’s wine connoisseurs.

Indeed, the new blend provides a delicious glimpse into the future – as the 2022 Grange is not due to be released to the market until later in 2026, although Gago is quick to note that the dual-hemisphere blend is entirely different in character, flavour and style to the 2022 Grange.

‘This collaboration between two great wineries is the grand world Shiraz advertisement, and I believe it will create significant conversations across the world,’ said Gago.

Going beyond

Grange La Chapelle 2022 is a blend of 50% La Chapelle from the steep hill of Hermitage in the Northern Rhône Valley, and 50% Grange from selected South Australian old-vine vineyards in the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra.

The topography of these sites is vastly different, as are the winemaking styles of the two contributing producers – particularly their oak regime. Grange is matured in 100% new American oak; La Chapelle has only 15% new French oak.

Combining two such assertive and distinctive wines may seem counterintuitive – with Grange promoting itself as the great multi-regional blend of Australian Shiraz, and La Chapelle being a definitive single-site Syrah. But Gago reasons that a blend can take the expression further ‘into uncharted territory’.

The idea may smack of a gimmick, with a keen eye on marketing – but the wine in the bottle is unmistakably profound.

What started as a trial between the two producers in 2021 has now become an extended series of wines – with the 2022 now released, plus 2023 and 2024 vintage blends in bottle.

As for the future, Gago simply quipped: ‘Well, after all this, perhaps anything is possible.’

This limited release will retail at €2,600 and AU$3,500 per bottle. A small allocation will be sold by Penfolds direct to consumer channel in Australia and the US. Buyers can express interest on a dedicated website: grangexlachapelle.com

Grange La Chapelle 2022: The verdict

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Australian winemakers’ prowess with Shiraz lit up the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) in 2025, and underlined the enticing diversity of premium styles to be explored.

Brilliant Shiraz wines span many growing regions, from the heartlands of McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley in South Australia to the cooler-climate Yarra Valley in Victoria.

Individual sites and old-vine plots add nuance, enabling winemakers to weave a tapestry of subtly diverging styles around this grape variety, which goes by the name of Syrah in France’s Rhône region and elsewhere.

Discover 14 top-scoring Shiraz wines from DWWA 2025

Top Australian Shiraz wines balance richness with elegance and poise. Many display a core of luscious fruit, from blackberry to plum and some red berry notes, which can be complemented to varying degrees by spicy, earthy and mocha-esque tones, along with extra savoury elements.

Well integrated tannins meet a freshening lift of acidity in the best wines, which promise to develop even greater complexity with long-term ageing. Australian Shiraz wines also offer mouth watering options for the table, from comforting, hearty stews on a deep midwinter evening to delicious barbecued fare.

DWWA’s rigorous judging process, underpinned by leading experts in their field, gives wine lovers a perfect platform from which to explore Australia’s Shiraz landscape.

Explore the full results from DWWA 2025 at awards.decanter.com

Best in Show

Barossa Old Vine Co, Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia 2022

Best in Show, 97 points

pinnacledrinks.com.au

The magnetic appeal of Barossa Shiraz has made it a favourite down the years for the DWWA Best in Show selection. This darkly coloured 2022 seduced our judges with its languid but alluring aromatic wealth, depth of flavour, structural seriousness and the softness of its balance – all very different from the opulent and sometimes over-showy examples most wine lovers will remember. Aromas here (while oaked) suggest underbrush and dry grasses as well as sweet baked plums. The palate is rich, opulent, just a little salty as well as softly fruity; gentle, plump fruit tannins shape that fruit to a greater extent than the admirably understated acidity. You sense as little interference as possible from vineyard to bottle – and this vineyard clearly has much to offer. Alcohol 14.5%

Trentham Estate, Reserve Shiraz, Heathcote, Victoria 2023

Best in Show, 97 points

£19.50-£20.50 Frontier Fine Wines, The Vinorium

Remarkably, out of the 30 Australian reds in the DWWA Best in Show selection over the last decade, this is the first to have come from Victoria. It’s very lively in aroma, with lots of red fruits in peppery, spicy style. On the palate, it’s boisterous and fresh, softly balanced and very pure-fruited. Intriguingly, the spice seems to pull back once the wine is in the mouth; with the warmth of the tongue compelling floral notes emerge. Grace, charm, poise and freshness, with a gratifyingly discreet tannin-acid balance: the craftsmanship conveys a strong sense of natural articulation and an unforced celebration of outstanding raw materials. Congratulations to Victoria and to Heathcote, and well done, too, to the team behind this deft and satisfying wine. Alc 14.5%

Western Australia

Cape Mentelle, Heritage Shiraz, Margaret River 2023

Platinum, 97 points

POA £ Bancroft Wines

Opulent blueberry, black cherry and damson aromas with nuances of violets over plush oak and smatterings of coconut and spice. Assertive and compelling, with finely woven tannins and embracing acidity. Alc 14.1%

South Australia

Heirloom Vineyards, Shiraz, McLaren Vale 2023

Platinum, 97 points

heirloomvineyards.com.au

Sumptuous blackberry, raspberry and bramble fruit aromas merge into the palate and linger over the smooth texture. Fulsome and rich style with lashings of tannin and spicy oak. Hedonistic and lengthy. Alc 14.5%

John Duval Wines, Eligo Shiraz, Barossa 2021

Gold, 96 points

£70 Liberty Wines

Hugely concentrated, with tiers of prune, plum and raspberry jam shrouded in finely toasted oak and a delectably textured crunch of blueberries lining the palate. Alc 14.5%

Sons of Eden, Romulus Old Vine Shiraz, Barossa Valley 2022

Gold, 96 points

POA £ ABS Wine Agencies

An explosion of blackberries, crushed violets, green leafy herbs and plum cake unfurls over a glossy texture and silky tannins, then a supple mocha note to end. Alc 14.5%

Dandelion Vineyards, Firehawk Shiraz, McLaren Vale 2022

Gold, 95 points

dandelionvineyards.com.au

Brooding and sultry with an intensity of plum, mulberry, blackberry and spiced fruit cake. Full-bodied and generous with pleasing tannins, a meaty texture and violet-sweet finish. Alc 14.5%

Monteperle, Reserve Shiraz, Barossa Valley 2022

Gold, 95 points

monteperle.com.au

A wine of phenomenal texture, with brooding, savoury bresaola notes offset by waves of ripe cherry, crushed red florals and chocolate. Lustrous and impressively long. Alc 15.2%

Berton Vineyard, Reserve Shiraz, Barossa 2021

Silver, 94 points

£16-£19.50 Corking Wines, Fintry Wines, Hallgarten Wines, Shelved Wine, Strictly Wine, The Fine Wine Co, The Good Spirits Co, Wine Poole, Wine Republic

Concentrated cassis, sweet vanilla; notes of pepper and crushed violets. Silky, fresh and characterful. Alc 14.5%

Hardys, Tintara Shiraz, McLaren Vale 2022

Silver, 94 points

£14.50 Vinarchy

The nose shows aromas of blue fruits with touches of black olive and dark spices. Fleshy and elegant on the palate. Alc 14%

Victoria

Centare Vineyard, Old Block Shiraz, Yarra Valley 2022

Gold, 95 points

centarevineyard.com

Pristine varietal aromas of blue fruit and black olive tapenade on a bed of sweet spice, with a soft, supple palate and lovely herbal lift on the finish. Alc 13.8%

Barmah Park, Cape Schanck Reserve Shiraz, Heathcote 2022

Silver, 94 points

barmahparkwines.com.au

Bramble and black cherry aromas seasoned by subtle new oak nuances. Robust on the palate, with rounded tannins. Alc 15.5%

De Bortoli, The Estate Vineyard Shiraz, Yarra Valley 2024

Silver, 94 points

debortoli.com.au

Stony nose with aromas of violets, black and red fruits, and savoury undertones. Chalky and mineral, with soft tannins. Alc 13.8%

New South Wales

Tyrrell’s, Winemaker’s Selection Vat 9 Shiraz, Hunter Valley 2023

Gold, 95 points

£55 John E Fells, US$80 Broadbent Selections

Evocative dark berries, violet perfume and peppery spice bustle over strident tannins and lifted acidity. Full-on style with a mouthfilling texture and length. Alc 13.5%

See all DWWA 2025 award winners 

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Swiss grape geneticist and author José Vouillamoz was in London in November to host a tasting during which he explained the origins of Syrah, how it arrived in his home country and why it works so well there.

The six exceptional bottles he opened could convert even the most stalwart Rhône-lover.

The origins of Syrah

To start with, we went back, all the way back – to the origins of the Syrah grape.

Vouillamoz says the first known document that mentions the variety comes from the Rhône Valley and dates to 1781.

But where does Syrah come from originally? He dispelled a number of common myths (it’s from Syracuse in Sicily, or Shiraz in Iran…) by explaining the grape’s genetic parentage.

It originated from a spontaneous crossing of Mondeuse Blanche (from Savoie) and Dureza (from the Ardèche). This makes Syrah a child of the Northern Rhône, and, as it happens, ‘a great-grandchild of Pinot,’ says Vouillamoz.

Dureza is likely named after its tough skin (dur means ‘hard’ or ‘tough’ in French). Though nearly extinct today, it has been recently replanted and vinified pure by a handful of inquisitive Rhône vignerons such as Yves Cuilleron and Pascal Jamet.

‘It’s extremely spicy,’ says Vouillamoz, ‘so we understand where the spice of Syrah comes from’.

Mondeuse Blanche has also nearly disappeared; perhaps because it rarely makes exciting wines by itself. But thanks to this variety, we get to enjoy not only Syrah but also Viognier, with whom it also shares a parent-offspring relationship.

From France to Switzerland

Syrah was introduced to Switzerland by an agricultural engineer named Dr Henry Wuilloud (1884-1963).

He visited Maison Jaboulet Vercherre in Tain l’Hermitage in 1921, and took cuttings back with him to his viticultural research station in the Valais.

His first vintage was 1925, which means Switzerland has now been making Syrah for exactly 100 years. (To provide a global perspective, this is not quite as long as Australia or South Africa, but around the same length of time as California, and much longer than New Zealand.)

The Valais is located in the southwest of the country and it’s the largest of the country’s six wine regions.

Today there are 215ha of Syrah in Switzerland, and the Valais is home to 80% of it. Despite its 100-year history, most Syrah vineyards are fairly recent; in 1991, there were only 19ha.

The average age of Swiss Syrah vines today is 23 years, and only 1% of plantings are over 50 years old.

Cool conditions

There are several reasons why Syrah thrives in the Valais. It’s sunny, windy and dry, with just 650mm of rain on average per year.

Soils are varied, but there are large outcrops of granite, schist and gneiss – Syrah-friendly soils also found in Côte-Rôtie and Saint-Joseph.

Alexandre Delétraz of Cave des Amandiers says: ‘We have perfect conditions for Syrah.’

He points to the high elevation vineyards (450m to 650m), which provide fresh conditions that favour high-toned floral and spice aromas. Days are warm but nights are cold – an important factor in producing aromatic wines.

Gilles Besse of Domaine Jean-René Germanier also underlines the long gap between véraison and harvest, typically 60 to 65 days.

He says this relatively extended period produces wines with elegance, ripe tannins and moderate alcohol.

‘We can wait until it’s ripe,’ he says. ‘In November, you still have green leaves, the vineyards are still working.’

Perfume and spice

The Valais is a cool climate extension of the Northern Rhône – and that’s exactly how their Syrahs taste: perfumed, spicy, weightless, graceful.

An appealing aromatic marker of Swiss Syrah is the prevalence of peppercorns, whether black, white or pink.

They don’t have the grip and heft of Cornas, nor the structure and might of Hermitage; they bring to mind Côte-Rôtie in a cool vintage.

The wines we tasted were far from uniform in style though; there is a range of different expressions, all from light to medium in body.

My only gripes are commercial. Firstly, the wines are quite expensive; those we tasted were the same price as decent Côte-Rôtie.

Given their quality, that’s not unreasonable. But it might feel like a barrier for those who haven’t tried the wines before.

Secondly, the Swiss only export 1% of their wines, making them hard to find – but all the wines we tasted are available somewhere in UK retail.

The best option of course is to visit Switzerland – which, on the back of this eye-opening tasting, is something I intend to as soon as possible.

After getting to know the Southern and Northern Rhône, the Eastern Rhône feels like a tantalising new frontier.

Matt’s pick of Swiss Syrah

Related articles

• Expert’s Choice: 18 Swiss reds and whites you need to try
• Decanter Cellar: 16 must-try Syrahs
• Rhône 2024: Vintage report & top wines 

Despite the trials of the growing season, St-Joseph has delivered a surprisingly consistent set of wines.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for St-Joseph wines

The reds are light- to medium-bodied, tense and spicy.

I can’t remember the last time I detected so much black pepper in the wines – a welcome effect of cooler conditions.

The tannins in many of the wines are fine and elegant, in contrast to 2022’s beefier wines. Though some are a little weedy, it’s essentially a very drinkable and refreshing vintage thanks in part to low levels of alcohol.

Most will be best drunk young, to enjoy their fragrance and delicacy.

If anything the whites are even better. While the reds are lean and fresh, the whites are relatively rich and opulent. Acidity levels can be on the low side, but most are very enjoyable and speak clearly of their origins.

Jean Gonon, who works organically, says that he had to spray the vines even more in 2024 than 2021, which was notoriously tough and beset with bad weather. But 2024 is a better year.

‘In 2021, it rained and then it was grey,’ he says ‘in 2024, there was brightness between the rains. And the light is important.’

See all St-Joseph wines tasted

Key St-Joseph producers in 2024

• Domaine Benoît Roseau
• Domaine Bernard Gripa
• Domaine Coursodon
• Domaine Gonon
• Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
• M Chapoutier
• Pierre-Jean Villa

Best-value St-Joseph wines in 2024

• Benoît Roseau, Sur le Quartz, St-Joseph Blanc 2024
• Benoît Roseau, La Ribaude, St-Joseph Rouge 2024
• Domaine Coursodon, Olivaie, St-Joseph Rouge 2024
• Jeanne Gaillard, La Relève, St-Joseph Rouge 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

St-Joseph 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

St-Joseph 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

St-Joseph 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

St-Joseph wines in 2024

Related articles

• St-Joseph: Revisiting 2022 in bottle
• Walls’ hidden gems: Domaine Verzier, a new future for the northern Rhône
• Northern Rhône 2015: Panel tasting results

In tough vintages, it’s often Crozes-Hermitage that suffers the most.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Crozes-Hermitage wines

While not as bad as calamitous years such as 2014 and 2021, 2024 ‘was psychologically and physically difficult,’ says Guillaume Sorrel of Domaine Marc Sorrel, ‘a vintage we don’t want to repeat’.

There was incessant rain in the spring, and the appellation struggled in the wet weather, especially on flatter vineyards where water can collect. Vineyards on slopes tend to fare better.

Organic growers faced particularly difficult dilemmas, with the threat of rot and mildew, with many having to carry out a record number of treatments in the vineyards

Many of the reds are dilute, and lacking in length and generosity.

There are some exceptions, however, particularly those from the north of the appellation around the village of Larnage. But it’s important to choose your Crozes-Hermitage carefully in 2024.

It’s not all bad news, however. Thankfully there are some very good whites.

With bright natural acidity and no excess flab or richness, this is a vintage that combines freshness and amplitude. Many of the wines are therefore nervy, savoury and balanced. There are many good-value options to explore.

See all Crozes-Hermitage wines tasted

Key Crozes-Hermitage producers

• Domaine Belle
• Domaine Marc Sorrel
• M Chapoutier

Best-value Crozes-Hermitage wines

• Chapoutier, Sicamor, Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2024
• Domaine Mucyn, Les Charmeuses, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024
• Domaine Vendome, Les Bruclas, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024
• Domaine Belle,Les Pierrelles, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024
• Domaine Combier, Cuvée L, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Crozes-Hermitage 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Crozes-Hermitage 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Crozes-Hermitage 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Crozes-Hermitage wines in 2024

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‘In 2022 and 2023, Côte-Rôtie had the advantage,’ says Maxime Chapoutier. ‘But in 2024 – Hermitage is back!’

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Hermitage wines

There are some very good red Hermitage wines this year in an elegant, fresh and appealing style, following a cool, wet end to the growing season.

That being said, some don’t quite have the power you might expect from this renowned appellation.

Jean-Louis Chave, of his eponymous domaine which is based in the village of Mauves just south and across the river from Tain-l’Hermitage, believes that 2023 is a better vintage in general, ‘but the best 2024s are as good as the best 2023s,’ he says.

While only good for red Hermitage, this is an excellent vintage for its whites.

They’re unusually consistent; in fact, it’s hard to go wrong with white Hermitage this year, so you can buy confidently from many producers in this appellation.

What impresses is the sheer verve and dynamism of the wines, teamed with the natural breadth and richness of this terroir. They will drink well young and age well too.

See all Hermitage wines tasted

Key Hermitage producers in 2024

• Château de St Cosme
• Domaine Belle
• Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
• Domaine Marc Sorrel
• Emmanuel Darnaud
• M Chapoutier

Best-value Hermitage wines in 2024

• Cave de Tain, Au Coeur des Siècles, Hermitage 2024
• Domaine des Remizières, Cuvée Emilie, Hermitage 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Hermitage 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Hermitage 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Hermitage 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Hermitage wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

Related articles

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• Walls: The next step for Jaboulet’s Hermitage La Chapelle
• Getting to know red Hermitage

During my en primeur tastings in October this year, I ask Franck Balthazar what he thinks of the 2024 vintage.

‘I love it,’ he says, and to taste his wines you immediately see why. It’s the kind of vintage that really chimes with his fragrant, elegant style of Cornas.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Cornas & St-Péray

According to Olivier Clape, ‘it looks more like an old-school vintage, less big and impressive, but more detailed’.

Here, like elsewhere in Cornas, it’s a return to a more measured style that’s more about classicism than exuberance or power.

Some wines are a touch dilute and lack breadth, but most have energy and freshness, often accompanied by a herbal note to the aromatic profile.

Most will be approachable young, and apart from a few notable exceptions, this isn’t a vintage for long ageing, so pay attention to the drinking windows advised.

See all Cornas 2024 wines tasted

See all St-Péray 2024 wines tasted

Key Cornas & St-Péray producers in 2024

• Frank Balthazar – Cornas
• Domaine Clape – Cornas
• M Chapoutier – St-Péray
• Domaine Bernard Gripa – St-Péray

Best-value Cornas & St-Péray wines in 2024

• Chapoutier, Haut Chamblard, St-Péray 2024
• Domaine Johann Michel, St-Péray 2024
• Domaine Courbis, Champelrose, Cornas 2024

Compare vintages: See coverage from previous years

Cornas & St-Péray 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Cornas & St-Péray 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Cornas & St-Péray 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Cornas & St-Péray wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

Related articles

• Walls: A vertical of a great Cornas cuvée
• Cornas to drink now: Matt Walls’ top 20
• Expert’s Choice: St-Péray

Conditions were challenging throughout the Rhône Valley in 2024, but the northern pole of the northern Rhône struggled the most.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for wines from Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu

Quality is heterogeneous in Côte-Rôtie. Rather than single-vineyard wines, it was the blends that often showed best.

In fact, Stéphane Ogier won’t be making his single-vineyard Côte-Rôties this year; ‘It’s a fresher vintage,’ he says, ‘and they have their place.’

Yields were very varied even within individual parcels, and several estates said they had to chaptalise.

This being said, there are some lovely individual wines, in a delicate, compact style. These should largely be best drunk young. But overall, this isn’t a brilliant vintage for Côte-Rôtie.

Though white wines are often excellent in 2024, across both the northern and southern Rhône, the picture in Condrieu is mixed. Although many are largely fresh and balanced, some lack enough concentration and length.

The best wines are head and shoulders above the rest however, showing intensity, vitality and no excess alcohol. It will pay to do your research in this vintage.

See all Côte-Rôtie 2024 wines tasted

See all Condrieu 2024 wines tasted

Key Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu producers in 2024

• M Chapoutier – Condrieu
• Domaine Merlin – Condrieu
• Pierre-Jean Villa – Condrieu
• Domaine JP Jamet – Côte-Rôtie
• E Guigal – Côte-Rôtie

Best-value Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu wines in 2024

• Roland Grangier, Les Combéluz, Condrieu 2024
• Mouton Père et Fils, Côte Bonnette, Condrieu 2024
• François et Fils, Rozier, Côte-Rôtie 2024
• Domaine Billon Christophe, La Brocarde, Côte-Rôtie 2024

Compare vintages: See our coverage of Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu from previous years

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2023: Report and top-scoring wines

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2022: Report and top-scoring wines

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2021: Report and top-scoring wines

See the full Rhône 2024 vintage report

Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu wines in 2024

Wines rated 97+ are featured in the main report

Related articles

• Walls: A Côte-Rôtie with a Burgundian flourish
• Walls: tasting Domaine Burgaud’s Côte-Rôtie 1988-2008
• Walls: Côte-Rôtie 2019 in bottle

Matt Walls, Gearoid Devaney MS and Fiona Hayes tasted 46 wines, with 9 Outstanding and 26 Highly recommended

Northern Rhône: Panel tasting scores

46 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 9

Highly recommended 26

Recommended 9

Commended 2

Fair 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their 2015-vintage red wines from any northern Rhône appellation

Scroll down to see the top-scoring wines from our northern Rhône panel tasting

Poised and raring to go

It’s an easy sequence to remember: ’05, ’10, ’15, ’20.

All were great vintages in the northern Rhône, but some – particularly 2005 and 2010 – have been agonisingly slow to mature.

This enjoyable tasting of nearly 50 wines from 2015 showed that the vintage deserves the hype that it received on release. What’s more, most of them are opening up and drinking well already.

The preceding winter was rainy, topping up the water table. Spring was damp, too, and warm; the season got off to an early start.

All of that water proved crucial, as 2015 turned out to be the hottest year on record after 2003. Yields were generous and the grapes were in perfect condition at harvest.

Despite the summer heat, the style of 2015 can be described as remarkably classic.

Fiona Hayes said: ‘I was expecting a warmer profile, but overall they were very well balanced… with a lot of freshness.’

Appellation analysis

The 2015 Crozes-Hermitage flight was remarkably strong. ‘You often think that Crozes-Hermitage doesn’t age well, but this showed that it does,’ said Hayes.

At 10 years of age, none were over the hill. Even better were the St-Josephs, which yielded three Outstanding wines.

‘A really strong flight overall,’ according to Gearoid Devaney MS. ‘Some really good expressions of Syrah – freshness, elegance and good balance.’

The Côte-Rôtie flight, though impressive, was more mixed in style; when the oak was in balance, there were some thrilling wines to enjoy.

While the 2015 Côte-Rôties are largely ready now, the best Hermitage wines need a little longer – but the quality there is even higher.

Certain styles proved divisive. More delicate wines, such as Domaine Belle’s Hermitage and Pierre-Jean Villa’s Côte-Rôtie Fongeant, were scored at 95 or 96 points by one or two judges but not all.

Most contentious was Jean-Michel Stéphan’s atypical, carbonic-maceration Côte-Rôtie So’Brune, which was both adored and not-so adored.

Overall, with an impressive nine Outstanding from 46 wines, this tasting proved that 2015 is a vintage that has lived up to its potential – and is now just beginning to deliver on its promise.

What to eat with northern Rhône Syrah, by Fiona Beckett

With most Rhône wines in restaurants coming from recent vintages, it’s most likely that you’re going to be drinking any older vintages at home.

But what should you pair them with? It depends of course on the appellation.

There’s a considerable difference pricewise between a Crozes-Hermitage and a Hermitage or Côte-Rôtie, which will no doubt make you think you ought to up your game with the latter pair, although there’s an attractive rusticity to mature Crozes that will satisfy any yearning for hearty grills and stews or good, meaty sausages.

With the finer wines you’re more likely to be looking at a roast – maybe salt-aged beef or a roasting joint from a herd of older cattle, mutton rather than lamb, or a haunch of venison.

Game, of course, is excellent with mature northern Rhône wines. Pheasant or grouse, maybe, rather than more delicate partridge – or a rich game pie.

A cheeseboard, too. Older wines are more mellow and less angular than younger ones, so they’re more accommodating when it comes to pungent, strongly flavoured cheeses.

See all notes and scores from the northern Rhône panel tasting

The judges

Matt Walls is a Contributing Editor to Decanter and the DWWA Regional Chair for Rhône. His latest book, The Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide to the Rhône Valley, is available now from Académie du Vin Library, priced at £12.99

Gearoid Devaney MS is an awarded sommelier, a director at London-based merchant Flint Wines and co-founder of restaurant Cabotte in the City. He has also worked at Michelin three-star Pierre Gagnaire in Paris and became a Master Sommelier in 2009

Fiona Hayes is a buyer at The Wine Society, responsible for categories including Rhône. She has worked at Fields Morris & Verdin and Berry Bros & Rudd, and was a buyer for European wines at Lay & Wheeler until early 2024

Northern Rhône panel tasting results:

Wines were tasted blind

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Haisma worked for a decade at Yarra Yering winery in Victoria, Australia before moving to Burgundy in 2007. His micro-négociant Gevrey-Chambertin wines quickly found a cult following and his success enabled him to acquire two hectares of vines in Gevrey and plant a further 2ha in Mâcon. He also makes wine in Cornas in the northern Rhône, and helped to launch Dagon Clan winery in Romania.

Yarra Yering’s owner and winemaker Dr Bailey Carrodus loved Shiraz, and my love for the grape was born there. You come to love a grape for many reasons, and ours was through drinking it – we drank it regularly and widely, including the great French, US, South African and Australian expressions.

When I moved to Burgundy in 2007, I asked a guy I knew in Cornas whether he could find me some fruit – that was the start of my French adventure with the grape. I’ve been working with the same grower ever since. An Aussie not making Shiraz is an Aussie lost! My first vintage (2009) was made from barrels that I bought and blended. The first vintage that I vinified myself was 2010.

Fast forward to 2016, when I planted my first vines in Burgundy – in the northern Mâconnais. My intention was to grow Chardonnay and I did, and it’s lovely. But a little corner took my fancy, and I decided to plant 0.3ha of Shiraz there. I didn’t foresee the complications and furore it would lead to. But let’s shake the tree hard and see how the apples fall – I like being naughty. The land was AOC Mâcon but the Shiraz has to be labelled as Vin de France, so I had devalued the land. I decided to call it Shiraz rather than Syrah because it’s so outside of what is normal that I don’t see the point in using the French term.

I’m never going to be a seventh-generation, seven grand cru-owning Burgundian. And the Shiraz project will be my most enduring, lasting piece of work – even though it’s a tiny project alongside my main business. The first vintage of the Shiraz was 2022, and it included 10% Gamay in the mix, from a separate 0.2ha plot of Gamay. You can see it a bit in the character of the wine, but the Shiraz is dominant. From the 2023 vintage onwards, I’ve gone with straight Shiraz.

When you carry out an experiment in science, you make a hypothesis and then prove or disprove it. My question is, ‘can we consistently ripen Shiraz in this northern climate?’ It might take a lifetime to answer it, but when we ask a question in viticulture, we don’t look for an immediate response. Planting decisions don’t realise the benefits for 20 years. By ripen, I mean phenonically ripen, not sugar ripen – we’re never going to get 14% here. But the warmer climate means we can let the fruit hang for longer, allowing flavours to develop.

I’m not suggesting that Gevrey-Chambertin is replanted with Shiraz – we could never afford to do that. But should Burgundy be looking at other varieties, in corners of the region that are becoming too hot? Look at what Bordeaux has done. One of the most strait-laced wine regions there is, yet they’ve ripped up the rule book and allowed struggling vintners in Entre-deux-Mers to earn a living by growing a whole bunch of different varieties. Let the young decide what they want to grow, make a new version of Bordeaux and target it at younger drinkers. In Australia, obviously, you plant what you like, when you like, where you like, as long as the label on the bottle tells you what’s inside.

Locally, the response to my planting of Shiraz was figuratively pitchforks at the end of the road. And bewilderment. We used the traditional trellising system for Shiraz, so the vines even looked out of place. Local growers said we’d never sell it and it would never work. As for the consumer, we see two different reactions: there’s the traditional Burgundy drinker who won’t look beyond Pinot Noir, and the inquisitive, open-minded drinker who loves the idea.

I don’t need approval from anyone – the authorities can’t do anything about it once you’ve declassified the land. But I’m disappointed that the move hasn’t started a serious conversation – it’s like talking to a brick wall. Climate change is the elephant in the room. We’re taking an awkward step into the unknown, and we can’t ignore what’s happening around us.

Imagine trying to plant Shiraz in Burgundy in the 1940s, ‘50s or ‘60s – it would’ve been a complete waste of time. What did the best northern Rhônes taste like back then? We don’t have the same soils here – our soils are not granitic – and we’re not trying to make Côte Rotie, but climate change might mean that the Shiraz we’re making in Burgundy today achieves the alcohol levels of the wine being made in the northern Rhône back then.

Our job as grape growers is to adapt – we have to learn to work in a changing environment. It’s a climate of extremes now, and soft intermediary ground is a rarity – it’s either sodden and wet or brutally dry. The more gentle, rhythmic weather patterns have gone. That said, climate change is not my primary motivation for growing Shiraz in the Mâconnais – I did it because of the emotional pull to the variety, and for the pure excitement of going against the grain. We’re not selling the wine cheaply, and obviously it’s important that the wine is good – otherwise the exercise is a failure.

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The tortuous granite hills behind the village of Cornas are abrupt, corrugated and sun-baked. Viticulture is physically challenging. What you find in the bottle reflects this extreme terroir – dramatic, muscular reds with tensile tannins.

Once considered the rough-and-ready country cousin of Côte-Rôtie, Cornas has developed impressively in recent years. At the opposite end of the northern Rhône region, this hot, more southerly terroir makes for a very different expression.

If Côte-Rôtie offers a precise and polished rendition of Syrah, then Cornas plays it unplugged.

Scroll down for Matt’s Cornas vintage selection

Wild ride

Landholdings here are necessarily small and parcels are prized by the families that own them. Only relatively recently have bottle prices allowed vignerons to look to the vines for their primary income.

Until the late 1980s, the vineyards might only be tended at weekends. Back then, winemaking was more intuitive than scientific and Cornas had a reputation for rusticity, caused by dirty barrels.

Today, winemakers are professionally trained and the brettanomyces (a type of spoilage yeast which creates ‘farmyardy’ aromas that some find offputting) has been largely eradicated.

The natural wildness of these wines has been preserved, however. The French have a wonderful word for it: sauvage.

This assertive, punchy style of 100% Syrah can make for long-lived wines. Sometimes they need extended periods in bottle to settle down – the tooth-and-claw tannins of Cornas can be rapacious in youth.

But in good vintages they have the lifeforce and freshness they need in order to sustain a lengthy hibernation, resulting in wines of immense complexity, elegance and staying power.

As the wines age, expect wild herbs and smoke to emerge from the black fruits, then layers of leather, game and mushroom notes to develop, adding umami depths.

Their natural salinity and blackberry acidity remain, their cleansing tannins smoothed but not blunted.

The following are six vintages to have on your radar: three to drink now and three to tuck away.

Cornas can age unpredictably sometimes, but years such as these, from the winemakers listed below, shouldn’t let you down.

Cornas to drink now

2016

The southern Rhône garnered most of the attention in 2016, but quality in the north was also exceptional.

While the south saw ideal growing conditions, according to Olivier Clape of Domaine Clape, Cornas suffered ‘a very complicated season with lots of rain, and mildew pressure all year until the end of July’.

However, the weather in August and September was ‘magnificent’, leading to a mid-September harvest. Nine years is on the young side to open Cornas, but all eight of the 2016s that I tasted were ready now, displaying classic Cornas structure and aromatic complexity.

It’s an athletic vintage – neither massive nor very concentrated but mineral and focused, with fresh acidity and palate-cleansing tannins.

A vintage that will age well on its freshness and balance, typically to around 2035.

2010

A vintage that was lauded on release but that has largely remained stubbornly closed and introverted. Until now that is – they are finally starting to open up. Rejoice! Grab your corkscrews!

It’s a vintage that has it all: freshness, balance, harmony, complexity… It’s indisputably an excellent year and a very long-lived one – the best will last to 2050 and beyond.

Olivier Clape remembers an ‘exceptional’ vintage: ‘The weather was perfect,’ he recalls. ‘Rain but not too much, heat but not too much. Even if the vintage was early the wines are very well balanced. It’s all down to the month of August, which was hot but always had cool nights, which is rare. That’s what made the vintage.’

2006

This is a year that sometimes gets forgotten, but it’s a smart pick if you’re looking for mature Cornas.

The 2005s were talked up on release – the wines have huge energy and robust tannins – but some still haven’t reached their peak.

The three 2006s that I tasted still had life ahead of them but were fully mature, displaying a resinous complexity, harmony and a lovely sense of freshness, still. It’s all thanks to a benevolent growing season and a particularly fine September.

Back then, a typical vintage in Cornas still took place in mid-September (today, late August or early September is more common), so vignerons were free to pick at the perfect point of balance and ripeness.

Cornas to drink later

2020

A vintage with ‘silky tannins and lots of fruit’ that’s been ‘very open and accessible since bottling’, according to Guillaume Gilles.

This was confirmed during the tasting – you could drink many 2020s straight away, but try to resist if you can, as the best is yet to come.

There was some localised mildew due to a wet spring, but the subsequent season was hot and dry, producing well-balanced wines – ripe and structured with good concentration and no heaviness.

This is a very likeable year that’s an obvious choice if you’re looking for a good vintage that will be ready to drink soon then develop for a few decades. The best might surprise us with even longer lives thanks to their harmonious profiles.

2019

Huge wines! The quality is mixed, however. Some are breathtaking and will age brilliantly, others are overripe, overoaked, overalcoholic – simply too much. But choose wisely and there are some truly great wines.

It’s not the most classic expression – very powerful, even for Cornas – but the best are impossible to ignore.

It was a hot, dry vintage with some dramatic heat spikes. You can feel the extreme nature of the season in the bottle, with wines that are ‘structured and powerful with quite marked acidity’, according to Clape.

Given the heat, the wines’ acidity is a pleasant surprise – and crucial to balance out the concentrated fruit, intense tannins and elevated alcohol.

‘Even before fermentation, the juice was as black and complex as wine!’ says Gilles. Most will start opening up in the next few years.

2015

Gilles remembers a fairly easy growing season: ‘Rather dry and hot but without excess, and some rains at the right moments in summer. The resulting wines aren’t far off the perfect balance – serious wines with lots of class.’

The 2015s share a number of traits with 2019, but 2015 is more consistent overall.

It’s an immense vintage – titanic wines with skyscraper tannins, incredible concentration and piercing intensity and salinity.

Due to its huge proportions, not everybody made balanced wines – some suffer from unruly tannins – however, the best are wines for the ages. They may not be as friendly as the 2016s, but the 2015s will last a great deal longer.

They’re easily as powerful as the 2010s, and like the wines of that year, you really must wait until they’re ready, which will be around 2028, if not later.

Those who wait will be richly rewarded. It’s an excellent vintage and one that you definitely want in your collection.

10 leading Cornas producers to know

Domaine A&E Verset

Alain Verset has now handed over to his daughter Emmanuelle, one of the few female winemakers in the village. Excellent parcels of old vines create wines with sublime finesse, particularly her cuvée Signature. See Facebook

Domaine Alain Voge

Alain Voge was a leading winemaker in the village. Since his death in 2020, the estate has been successfully guided by Lionel Fraisse. The cuvées Vieilles Vignes and Les Vieilles Fontaines are delicious and ageworthy. alain-voge.com

Domaine Clape

The Clape family is a cornerstone of the Cornas appellation – its traditional style has remained largely unchanged for generations. Its wines exhibit all the intensity of its exceptional parcels of old vines and can last for decades. 146 Avenue du Colonel-Rousset

Domaine du Coulet

Highly characterful wines from iconoclast Matthieu Barret (pictured). His graffitied winery has no barrels – he matures his wines in diamond-shaped concrete tanks. His Cornas cuvées are lighter in tannin than most and have spellbinding aromatic complexity. domaineducoulet.com

Domaine du Tunnel

From his unusual winery, which occupies a disused railway tunnel just outside St-Péray, winemaker Stéphane Robert makes bold, powerful Cornas. An estate that continually evolves and improves. domaine-du-tunnel.fr

Domaine Franck Balthazar

Wild and thrilling natural-leaning Cornas, more about purity and vibrancy than huge tannic structures.

Unusually for Cornas, they often drink well young, particularly his no-added-sulphite bottling Sans Soufre Ajouté. 8 Rue des Violettes

Domaine Guillaume Gilles

Gilles worked under past master Robert Michel. When this legendary producer retired, Gilles bought some of his best vineyards.

All whole bunch-fermented, no new oak and a light touch in the cellar makes for classical Cornas of the highest standard. gillesguillaume@neuf.fr

Domaine Johann Michel

Michel bought half a hectare of Cornas in 1997 and, single-handed, has built his estate up to 4ha. Between modern and traditional in style, his wines are concentrated but also approachable. domaine-johann-michel.fr

Domaine Thierry Allemand

Thierry’s not from a family of winemakers, but after showing early promise his father bought him a small parcel of vines in 1982. He now has 5ha that he works organically with his son Théo.

Highly sought-after today, their wines bring elegance and purity to the characteristic wildness of Cornas. 22 Impasse des Granges

Domaine Vincent Paris

Paris is best known for his exceptional single-vineyard bottling La Geynale (see recent vertical tasting on Decanter Premium online).

In good vintages, his other Cornas cuvées, Granit 30 and Granit 60, offer unbeatable value for money. vin-paris.com

Other names worth seeking out include: Domaine Aurélien Chatagnier, Domaine Chaboud Cellier, Domaine Dumien Serrette, Domaine Lionnet, Domaine Thomas Farge, Ferraton.

12 Cornas wines to either enjoy now or cellar

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Some vintages have clear identities. In Gigondas, the 2019s for example are wilful, energetic wines, while the 2018s are softer and juicier.

The 2022 vintage is harder to pin down. The best way of describing it, both in climate and style, is a vintage of extremes.

The wines occupy a broader stylistic spectrum than a typical year, even within the range of a single producer.

But if you sidestep the unbalanced wines – there are many with tough tannins and high alcohols – the best wines will age for decades.

Scroll down for Matt Walls’ best 2022 Gigondas wines in bottle

A harsh season

The extreme nature of the wines comes as no surprise: 2022 was the hottest and driest year on record in the southern Rhône.

‘The summer was very hot, scorching even,’ says Julien Brechet of Domaine des Bosquets, ‘and very dry. Temperatures sometimes reached 42°C.

‘Fortunately the cool Dentelles massif and the morning shade cast over the vineyard helped us hold our ground,’ he continues. ‘The sunshine is strong but less scorching than on the plains.’

Romain Saurel of Domaine Saint-Damien says that spring was extremely dry, with less than 200mm of rainfall between December and July.

Thankfully there was a storm on 14 August, which ‘really saved the quality of the vintage,’ he says.

Further small rains later in August and September also helped the vines stay on track, but young vines suffered.

Brechet had to manually water his young vines 11 times between June and August to keep them alive. Old vines coped much better.

This is a vintage where Grenache really shows its worth. The Syrah-heavy blends were often impenetrably tough and tannic, whereas the Grenache-based wines were more juicy, vibrant and balanced.

See Matt Walls full report on the 2022 vintage in the Rhône here

Tannin and texture

Very hot, dry vintages can sometimes lead to jammy or raisined fruit flavours but that’s not the case in 2022.

Despite the conditions – and the fairly low acidities – the wines do have a good sense of freshness.

Nonetheless, the hot, dry conditions left a strong imprint on the wines.

For Jérôme Rathle, 2022 marked his second vintage. His new estate, Domaine des Florets, is one to watch.

‘The lack of rain limited fungal diseases, but the high temperatures led to small berries and ultimately low yields,’ he says, ‘the Syrah berries looked like blueberries.’

This meant a high skin-to-juice ratio in the grapes, which made for some very tannic wines.

Another effect of the hot weather was that some vines shut down and stopped ripening, which can lead to green tannins – further impacting some wines’ textures.

So the main question surrounding the tasting was this: will the tannins ever soften and come round?

For a good number of the 76 wines I tasted, I suspect the answer is no, they won’t. Those wines aren’t included in my selection.

But winemakers that achieved balanced grapes and mastered their tannin management produced some thrilling, chiselled and assertive wines.

Key takeaways: Wines for the cellar

Those drinking well already are in the minority; even for the wines you could broach today, most will improve with a few more years in bottle.

This is a vintage that will reward the patient.

Brechet agrees: ‘The 2022 vintage will likely be a great ageing vintage in Gigondas, thanks to the balance of the great high-altitude terroirs.’

He believes his Regard Loin could age for over 30 years, and I wouldn’t bet against him.

It’s worth adding that it’s not just the higher elevation terroirs that turned out great wines in 2022; some of the lower altitude plots on the Cône also performed well, such as those from Saint-Damien and Montirius.

Most of all, 2022 is a vintage where the best winemakers really rose to the top.

Love French wine? Sign up to Decanter’s France newsletter here

Best 2022 Gigondas in bottle:

30 wines are listed below, see all 37 of Matt Walls’ recommedations here

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Côte-Rôtie is equidistant between Avignon and Beaune. It might be part of the Rhône family, but, due to its location, it can be forgiven for looking north to Burgundy as well to the southern Rhône.

Arguably, though, Côte-Rôtie has more in common with Burgundy’s Côte d’Or.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 18 wines from Benjamin & David Duclaux

If we discount an optional seasoning of Viognier, both region’s reds are monovarietal. Their climates are continental. They grow their vines on southeast-facing slopes.

There are no official premiers or grands crus in Côte-Rôtie, but the proliferation of single vineyard wines is more Burgundian in spirit than Châteauneuvois.

Until now, most have come from Ampuis’ most sacred slopes: Côte-Brune, Côte-Blonde, La Landonne.

More recently, winemakers have been singling out lieux-dits from Côte-Rôtie’s most southerly commune – Tupin-et-Semons.

Though always part of the appellation, this sector has never garnered quite the same praise as Ampuis.

But the strength of a recent tasting at Domaine Benjamin & David Duclaux suggests this terroir is ripe for reappraisal.

Brotherly love

Benjamin and David are brothers (Domaine Duclaux in Châteauneuf is no relation). They’re a jovial pair and they get on well, always cracking jokes.

David’s son Matteo has just joined the estate after a season in New Zealand, and he shares the family’s sunny disposition.

‘We’re not making wine,’ says Benjamin, ‘we’re creating moments in life to share together.’

The 5ha estate, based in the commune of Tupin-et-Semons, was established in 1928 by the brothers’ great-grandfather.

Their Syrah parcels are all planted on gneiss and surround the estate.

Except for a little Condrieu, they only make Côte-Rôtie.

Why no St-Joseph, I wondered? ‘It’s a life choice,’ says Benjamin, ‘we want to stay small and master what we do – and we have a good life as it is! We only make wine from the slopes – we were born on the slopes.’

One cuvée becomes four

Until the 2000s, they only made one Côte-Rôtie, a blend of all their plots.

In 2003 however, they decided to make an experimental barrel of their oldest vines from lieu-dit Maison Rouge, the oldest dating back to 1943.

It was never released commercially, but the quality was clear; ‘it has always been silkier, racier,’ says David. The first official vintage of Maison Rouge was 2005.

At this point they renamed their cuvée classique La Germine. This has since been joined by La Chana, a cuvée with 7% Viognier designed for early drinking.

Their fourth cuvée, Coteaux de Tupin, was first released in 2018.

The specific parcels aren’t the only differentiating factor between each bottling.

Use of whole bunch increases through the range, from 20% for the La Chana and La Germine up to 100% for Coteaux de Tupin, which is designed with long ageing in mind.

The amount of new oak increases too, but never dominates by the time the wines are mature.

As for the names of the cuvées, La Chana and La Germine both refer to obsolete place names on antiquated vineyard maps (though both are blends of several parcels).

Coteaux de Tupin means hillsides of Tupin, a large lieu-dit under the hilltop village of Tupin. So far, so prosaic.

The etymology of Maison Rouge, meaning red house in English, is more intriguing. David offers two possibilities.

The first is connected to a house in the vineyard that was once owned by the Archbishop of Vienne. Legend has it his robes were red and his house was painted the same colour.

The second possibility is that guest houses in Roman times were painted red so that travellers knew where they could get a bed for the night, and the house in the vineyards was once such a hostelry. ‘Which is true? We don’t know,’ says David.

The tasting

When I visited earlier this year, they generously opened a full vertical of Maison Rouge and Coteaux de Tupin. It was the first time they’ve ever performed such a tasting, so the experience was a first for us all.

The Maison Rouge series came first. Blonde gneiss soils are known for their exuberant fragrance and that’s what this cuvée delivers, with high-toned rose and tobacco aromas. In the spectrum of Côte-Rôtie, this is stylistically central – traditional but not dusty, modern but measured and balanced.

It’s a cuvée you can drink young, but it shows its best typically after seven to 15 years of ageing, depending on the vintage.

Only the 2008, a wet year in Côte-Rôtie, was past its best; even the 2005 has another 10 years ahead of it.

The three vintages of Coteaux de Tupin that we tasted were all superb. Compared to the crowd-pleasing, centrist style of Maison Rouge, it’s a bolder, richer, more velvety expression.

Though this cuvée will be longer lived than a typical Maison Rouge, all three vintages of Coteaux de Tupin were surprisingly approachable already.

The Duclaux family aren’t the only ones to make single-vineyard wines from these lieux-dits. Coteaux du Tupin is bottled pure by Domaine Benoît Roseau, Domaine Martin Clerc and Maison Stéphan.

A Maison Rouge is also made by Domaine Georges Vernay and Domaine Mouton. Stéphane Ogier has just bought some land here too, though it’s not yet planted. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for horizontal tastings next time I’m in the area.

While the single-vineyard wines of Ampuis attract the limelight, those of Tupin-et-Semons remain relatively well priced. But for how much longer? This tasting proved just how good they can be.

Top class single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie:

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Barossa Shiraz 2023 vintage rating: 4/5

Despite challenges, growers who paid careful attention to their vines enjoyed superb grapes from the 2023 harvest. After steady winter rains, spring was one of the wettest on record, though timely spraying averted threats of downy mildew.

There were no sustained summer heatwaves; cooler weather and large vine canopies saw veraison occur during February, delaying the Barossa’s 2023 vintage by up to four weeks. Shiraz usually harvested in mid-February was picked from mid-March.

However, slow ripening produced complex flavours in grapes, with red wines showing intense, rich and balanced flavours and colours. While crop volumes varied across the region, the total Barossa yield (red and white) was slightly above average at 73,160 tonnes.

Scroll down for David’s top-scoring wines from the 2023 Barossa Shiraz releases

Capturing heightened elegance in Barossa Shiraz comes with confidence – and a cooler, longer vintage in 2023 has certainly helped a raft of winemakers embrace this evolving style.

This vintage presented challenges, especially to obtain optimal ripeness at the highest elevations. It required great attention in the vineyard, especially to escape fungal disease due to cooler temperatures.

But smart vignerons – led by Alkina, Michael Hall, The Cutting and Head Wines – took great care to place specific attention on individual grape parcels, applying multiple winemaking techniques to achieve superior results.

Shifting style

Decanter published its first Barossa Shiraz Vintage Report for the 2022 vintage and noted that a shift in winemaking style was gaining a foothold.

The best wines captured a leanness and nimbleness that defied a lingering perception of heavyweight Barossa Shiraz with high alcohol and super-ripe fruit.

This change in direction has now gained traction.

The 2023 vintage provided the right environment for Barossa winemakers to explore these ideas further. From the 89 submissions for this vintage report, a broad league of wines shows subtle and complex marriages of flavour and texture.

With less insistence on shouting, subtleties were allowed to speak with increased clarity.

This is a great achievement by modern Barossa producers. More detailed understanding of terroir, greater care for the fragility of ancient vines and increased responsiveness to climatic changes have translated to expressive wines that clearly reflect their environment.

Terroir expression

‘We are seeing terroir inform the winemaking required to make the best wines,’ says Alex Head, winemaker at Head Wines, who sources fruit from 15 privately owned Barossa vineyards. ‘Hard work in the winery has resulted in wines of really interesting texture from the 2023 vintage.’

Once, the Barossa’s quandary was whether to maintain tradition by making hefty Shiraz of imposing depth and power, or to embrace more slimline contemporary tastes.

It’s pleasing that the current direction respects old-vine intensity while also championing understated elegance and refined beauty.

Shiraz from the 2023 vintage shows impressive consistency from the top tier of producers. Expect pretty perfumes as a consequence of cooler temperatures, along with complex texture aided by supple, lithe tannins.

Many of these wines seem slightly shy now, but the best have an unforced elegance that won’t fade with time.

Names to know

Rising high above the ordinary are a suite of meticulous wine producers, led by Alkina, Michael Hall, John Duval and Alex Head, along with boutique producers including Belinda van Eyssen from The Cutting.

Impressive new faces are producing wines of the highest order. They include Jack Scholz, taking over the reins at The Willows Vineyard. Young winemaker Samantha Chandra is focusing on distinctive single vineyard expressions with her solo project Setiono.

While Nick Radford is making notable advances at Mirus Vineyards in the Marananga subregion.

With a nod to classic style, Henschke notably demonstrates the craft of careful blending with Henry’s Seven, a wine that achieves a high degree of sophistication.

Shiraz from the Barossa Valley floor is co-fermented with Viognier pressings, and just the right addition of Grenache and Mataro, to achieve ideal balance.

‘Any wines that are focused on expressing region, place and site are showing especially well from the 2023 vintage,’ concludes Alkina winemaker Amelia Nolan. ‘And for that reason, we regard 2023 as a fabulous year.’

Barossa: The facts

Founded: 1842

Vineyards: 14,236ha under vine, with 11,847ha in the Barossa Valley (elevation 112-597m) and 2,389ha in the adjacent Eden Valley (elevation 217-637m). This represents 9.7% of Australia’s total wine production.

Climate: hot and dry. Barossa average rainfall 160mm; Eden Valley average rainfall 280mm. Mean temperatures during the key January growing period are 21.4℃ in Barossa and 19.4℃ in Eden Valley.

Vine age: Barossa has the oldest producing Shiraz vines in the world, planted in 1843. 283ha of vines are more than 70 years of age; 82ha are more than 125 years old.

Barossa Shiraz 2023: The top 40 wines

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There are many tall tales around the origins of Syrah – also known as Shiraz.

One claimed that it was Rome’s legions that brought the grape to southern France. The soldiers had been in Sicily before and brought with them vines from the city of Syracuse.

But then Pliny the Elder claimed that it was a variety called Vitis syriaca that came from Syria.

Later still a legend emerged that its origins lay further to the east, around the ancient Persian city of Shiraz.

But the truth is that Syrah is a Rhône grape through and through. In 1998, DNA testing showed its parents were Mondeuse Blanche and a (now little-used) black variety called Dureza.

It’s a telling irony that while Syrah’s origin stories talk of it coming from overseas when it’s actually a Rhône Valley native, its modern story has been all about finding new homes around the world.

Let’s take a look at where Syrah has ended up, as well as delicious examples tasted recently by both the Decanter team and our expert contributors.

Scroll down for 16 must-try Syrah/Shiraz

Rhône Valley and southern France

Syrah’s home is along the banks of the long, drifting Rhône that wends its way from the Alps to the Mediterranean.

The northern half of the valley in particular is pure Syrah territory (occasionally mixed with a smidgen of Viognier).

It’s here, in the vineyards of Côte-Rôtie, Cornas and Hermitage that Syrah achieves what many see as its smoky, spicy, peppery majesty.

In the southern half of the valley Syrah tends to play a supporting role to Grenache and other varieties, and this also true of the numerous wines produced across the appellations of the Languedoc.

If you want the Syrah experience without a price tag as steep as some of the best vineyard sites, however, then look to St-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage for some increasingly delicious examples.

Australia

After the Rhône, say Syrah to a wine fan and they’ll probably mention Australia.

While on his travels finding cuttings to send back to Australia, James Busby remarked on this tale in his notes. Syrah was first known in Australia as ‘Hermitage’ or the older toponym ‘Scyras’.

But after EU protections were put in place a change of name was needed and ‘Scyras’ got a new ‘Strine’ inflection which, coupled with the old Shiraz legend, might be how the name has stuck the way it has Down Under.

Either way, the reference for Australian Shiraz is Barossa Valley, which the likes of Henschke, Torbreck and Yalumba call home.

Aussie Shiraz has a reputation for being bigger in every sense than its French cousins and while that holds true to a point, as with most varieties the current trend is for freshness and greater nuance.

And Shiraz is grown right across the country’s wine regions, with McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills among those with both the cool sites and old vines that make for a truly winning combination.

It’s also frequently blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as appearing in the classic southern European-inspired ‘GSM’ blends (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre).

Click here to see notes and scores for nearly 5,000 Syrah tasted by Decanter

Syrah around the world

There are few places where Syrah dominates in quite the way it does in the Rhône and Australia but its presence is felt globally – especially anywhere with a warm, Mediterranean-style climate.

Looking elsewhere in Europe, one surprising source of Syrah is Switzerland. This landlocked country is where the source of the Rhône rises and there’s a pocket of the Valais where it thrives in the sheltered mountain valleys.

It crops up in southern Portugal and Italy though usually as a blending partner. Across the Mediterranean in Israel and Lebanon there’s some strong Syrah and Syrah-led blends emerging with plenty of potential.

A land where Syrah is rising fast is South Africa. Since the end of Apartheid, its been one of the country’s fastest-growing red varieties.

It’s the backbone of the incredibly popular The Chocolate Block label and the pure-Syrah Porseleinberg, as well as the Mullineux-made trio of Schist, Granite and Iron which shows off some serious terroir flex.

Not to be out-done by their neighbours, New Zealand has a good line in tightly-grained, very elegant Syrah. Look out for wines from the north of the islands, especially Hawke’s Bay.

In the US, Syrah has never had the clout of Cabernet or Pinot but it has a strong, almost cultish following among its fans.

In California, it crops up frequently in Sine Qua Non’s eclectic range of wines and it has pockets of vines throughout the state.

It’s true US foothold though is Washington State, especially the Walla Walla AVA. Up in Canada, the southern half of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia also allows for Syrah to thrive.

And finally, in the southern half of the Americas it is Chile that flies Syrah’s banner highest in both its coastal and mountain sites.

16 must-try Syrah

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When it comes to extreme vintages, I’m pretty circumspect. I was never a great fan of wines from 2003, which was an exceptionally hot and dry year.

But a recent tasting of 50 2022 St-Josephs painted a picture of a surprisingly strong vintage despite an even more severe growing season than 2003.

In 2003, winemakers didn’t know how to react to the extreme heat. But 2022 came after a succession of roasting years, during which winemakers honed their methods.

This time, they were ready.

Scroll down for notes and scores for 2022 St-Joseph in bottle

Record-breaking extremes

To describe the weather as extreme in 2022 is no exaggeration. A weather station in Orange recorded the hottest May on record. It counted 37 days when temperatures reached over 35°C – only 2003 saw more.

And it wasn’t just the days that were sweltering; average nighttime temperatures were the hottest ever recorded.

It was also exceptionally dry. Between 15 October 2021 and 1 September 2022, only 300mm of rain was recorded – compared to 600mm in a normal year.

In summary, between budbreak and harvest, 2022 was the hottest, driest year in the Rhône since records began in 1950.

Easy for growers

Conditions like this were felt throughout the Rhône Valley, and St-Joseph was no different. For winemakers, it made for a relaxed year.

‘It was easy to manage in the vineyard,’ says Ludovic Izerable of Domaine Lionnet, who has vineyards in the southern part of the appellation near Cornas.

Graeme Bott of Domaine Bott, located at the northern end of St-Joseph, agreed.

‘There was no water for downy mildew to be an issue and it was too hot for powdery mildew to be an issue either,’ he says, ‘Work overall in the vineyards was quite straightforward and it was one of the years which required a lower amount of manpower due to the slower development of the vines.’

Tough on vines

The harsh conditions were tough on the vines, however. Growth was stunted due to the heat and drought, and young vines struggled.

Damien Brisset, head winemaker at Ferraton, says, ‘we had to adapt by practicing minimalist viticulture – no leaf plucking, no trimming the canopy – and also by regulating the crop load in some plots through green harvesting, to limit blockages in ripening during August and September.’

Winemakers also had to modify the way they worked in the cellar.

‘We chose to use a higher than normal percentage of whole bunches in the reds and worked the wines with just one short pump over per day,’ says Bott.

Brisset also opted for, ‘the gentlest possible extractions’.

Powerful reds

When I tasted the 2022 red St-Josephs from barrel, there was significant stylistic variation – most had the power you would expect from such a year, but some were surprisingly lean due to blockages in ripening due to heat and drought.

After some time in bottle, this is still the case; some are light, aromatic and best drunk young. But most are in the other camp – powerful, densely tannic, darkly fruited.

So it’s a vintage with something for everyone.

Inevitably, some of the wines were less exciting. This was usually down to uneven or blocked ripening resulting in a green, bitter streak or a lack of depth. Some were very reductive; others were over-oaked.

But largely, 2022 is a very good vintage for St-Joseph reds – one with energy, intensity and serious tannic structure.

Intense whites

The whites broadly share this drive and concentration, with plenty of extract and salinity. Oak can help accentuate this, but it wasn’t always needed in 2022 thanks to the natural intensity of the fruit.

In hot vintages, whites can be prone to flabbiness – such as in 2018. But sometimes the effect is to accentuate their intensity and salinity, such as 2010 and 2017 – and 2022.

Bott was happy with both colours. ‘It is a very good vintage for both whites and reds which is not always the case,’ he says.

‘I think the reason being is that with the heat and lack of rain during the last ripening period the grapes reduced in size and concentrated both sugar and acidity, similar to 2019 in Burgundy, so we actually kept reasonable acidity levels considering the vintage.’

Wines for ageing

After a year or so in bottle, usually I would expect most St-Josephs to be ready to start drinking, but most 2022s need another couple of years in bottle to soften.

They will have unusual longevity too – typically around 10 years, but some will go on to mature and develop for 20. Be aware that the more structured wines are likely to feel quite hard and serious in youth. It’s a vintage that will really blossom in time.

So if you enjoy the smoky complexity of aged northern Rhône Syrah, 2022 St-Joseph will prove a particularly cost effective way of stocking your cellar. Some of the whites will prove deliciously long-lasting too.

‘If we compare statistics, 2022 would be similar to 2003, however it was not at all the same style of wine produced,’ says Bott, ‘much lower alcohol levels and more balanced ripeness.’

In 2003, no one had experienced such heat and drought before, so it caught winemakers by surprise, many of them were still on holiday when they needed to start picking.

In 2022, they were prepared – and the results are so much better.

St-Joseph 2022: The wines to try

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Peter Richards MW, Ben Gubbins and Andrew Johnson tasted 137 wines, with 4 Outstanding and 26 Highly Recommended

Value South American reds: Panel tasting scores

137 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 4

Highly recommended 26

Recommended 92

Commended 15

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their still, dry red wines from any region and classification in South America with a maximum retail price of £17/US$22

Scroll down to see the top-scoring wines from the value South American reds panel tasting

Sweeping generalisations are risky in a smorgasbord tasting, but after appraising 137 wines, the overall feeling among the judges was positive.

With more than 20% of the wines scoring 90 points or more, four Outstanding wines and 89% of the wines Recommended or higher, there’s clearly real value to be found in South American reds.

Chile delivered most (69) of the entries and also many of the highlights. As Ben Gubbins said: ‘At a price point where Chile has been pilloried for being identikit and boring, these wines were anything but. Within each variety, there was real diversity between regions, which was impressive.’

Pinot Noir and Syrah were highlights, especially those from coastal and southerly regions, which offered fresher, elegant styles.

‘Syrah was a real standout,’ commented Andrew Johnson, ‘and I liked the purity of many of the Pinots, which over-delivered for this price category. The future looks bright.’

Chilean Carmenère turned in a solid, if hardly thrilling performance and it was a similar story with the Cabernets, save for a couple of exceptional wines that allied perfume and structure with drinkability.

Divergent paths

For Johnson, too many Chilean Cabernets were ‘chunky and blocky’. Fresher styles of Carignan, Garnacha, Malbec and Cinsault impressed, though.

Gubbins identified two divergent streams of Argentine Malbec: ‘One was extracted and surprisingly tannic, the other was balanced, well crafted and intriguing.’

The best expressions delivered captivating aromatic complexity (floral, peppery, brooding fruit) with deft integration on the palate. These wines were, to quote Johnson, ‘beautiful’.

Uruguay sported modest numbers and results, the best a creditable Marselan and some characterful Tannat, for which Gubbins identified some ‘smart winemaking’.

Overall, there was much here not just to like, but also to excite. Winemakers managed to deliver characterful, charming wines at these prices, and the judges urged more of the same, singling out regions such as Patagonia and Itata.

‘Really promising,’ summed up Johnson.

What to eat with South American reds, by Fiona Beckett

This tasting covered a wide range of grape varieties and styles, so it’s hard to generalise in terms of food pairings, but there’s a common thread in the wines, which is bright, upfront fruit.

In food terms, that means they can handle bold flavours, a fair bit of spice and cuisines and styles of cooking where several dishes are served at the same time – at a barbecue, for instance.

There are, of course, characteristics of each type of wine that will lead you towards particular ingredients and types of dishes. For example, it’s hard to go wrong serving Pinot Noir with duck or – lightly chilled – with grilled salmon or tuna; Cabernet is a classic for a good burger or grilled portobello mushrooms; and Malbec is an obvious contender for steak and chips.

Or maybe break new ground with Carmenère and a lamb curry, especially if it includes coriander.

Value South American reds panel tasting results

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Peter Richards MW is the DWWA Regional Chair for Chile. A well-known broadcaster and writer, he co-created and presents wine and travel series The Wild Side of Wine and is co-host of the awarded Wine Blast podcast

Ben Gubbins is general manager and WSET wine educator at Vagabond Wines in London. A native of Chile, he previously worked as UK & Europe sales director for Dos Andes Wines before joining Vagabond in 2013

Andrew Johnson is managing director of wine merchant WoodWinters, also heading his own project Veiled Vineyards, which aims to unearth ‘hidden’ wines that might otherwise have missed out on reaching the market

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Given the glamour that surrounds the world of fine wine, it can be all too easy to forget that wine is an agricultural product, and that, as such, it’s subject to the vagaries of nature.

Each year is a gamble for wine producers, with a spread bet that the combination of weather, yield and disease pressure will pay out in their favour.

Stephen and Prue Henschke, fifth-generation producers of some of South Australia’s most iconic wines, are only too familiar with the annual roll of the dice.

Scroll down for the Henschke 2021 single-vineyard releases

Production volumes of all of their single-vineyard Shirazes were way down on average – and in some cases non-existent – in the challenging 2019 vintage.

This was the result of a combination of spring frosts and a hot, dry summer, as well as bushfires in the Adelaide Hills.

Worse was to come in 2020, a vintage described by Stephen as, ‘an absolute disaster’.

He says: ‘We literally had vines with no grapes on them at all – we lost a whole vintage.’

A ‘fairy-tale vintage’

As a result the following year, 2021, which he describes as ‘a beautiful, fairy-tale vintage’, came as a huge relief. Volumes were not only back up to normal, but the quality of the wines is immediately apparent to all who taste them.

Stephen believes that the wines stand comparison with the stellar vintages of 1986, 2002, 2005 and 2015 – although, as ever, each vintage has its own particular character.

‘The unique thing about 2021,’ says Stephen, ‘is that it was one of the coolest growing seasons we’ve seen in 19 years. We only had three days over 30°C. In terms of vintage comparisons, it comes closest to 2002 and 2005, both of which were wonderful years.’

The weather conditions in 2021 almost seemed to be trying to make amends for the tribulations imposed on the Henschkes over the course of the previous couple of years. There was sufficient rainfall early in the growing season to nourish the vines, then just enough water stress after veraison to help create balance and concentration in the fruit.

Finally, the growing season culminated in an Indian summer, which allowed the wines to reach near-perfect levels of colour, aromatic richness, depth of flavour and balance.

Fine-tuning in the winery

As far as the Henschkes are concerned, great wines are not made in the winery, where very little has changed over the course of generations. There has, of course, been the odd tweak here and there.

For example, instead of crushing the fruit on arrival at the winery, the bunches are now passed through a de-stemmer and optical sorter. The family also employs a more efficient cooling system than was once the case.

The use of new oak has also decreased over time from around 25% to a figure closer to 5%. Stephen explains: ‘We want the vineyard to be the hero, and not the oak.’

In 2002 screwcaps were introduced as the closure of choice for most of the range.

Vineyard goals

Instead, the Henschkes believe that true greatness comes from a near-infinite capacity for taking pains in the vineyard. As the family’s viticulturist, this is Prue’s fiefdom.

Her work is largely about managing exposure, harnessing sunlight to ripen the grapes and not to burn them.

‘The idea,’ says Prue, ‘is to draw on the cooler light in the morning and then have a very shaded canopy facing the hot afternoon sun.’

She points out that they’re helped in their goal of capturing the essence of each vineyard by the age of their vines. The emblematic Hill of Grace Shiraz vineyard averages out at 85 years old, a relatively sprightly age when you consider that the oldest vines that go into the cuvee were planted in 1860.

‘The interesting thing with the old vines,’ she says, ‘is that they seem to be designed in such a way as to set the fruit up to have beautiful balance.

In the past four years we’ve been picking grapes with high acidities and low pH levels, so the wines almost make themselves.’

Vine age and complexity

The difference between the vines that go into Hill of Grace, and the younger vines from the same vineyard, planted in 1989 – and which are used to create the Hill of Roses Shiraz – is clear, according to Stephen.

‘The palate length [of Hill of Roses] is still building, as is the complexity compared to the old-vine wines,’ he says, adding: ‘The balance is coming into better focus.’ He believes it takes about 25 years for a vineyard to start showing some real complexity.

The truth is there’s no lack of complexity in any of the Henschkes’ single-vineyard wines; just the restrained elegance and precision that speaks volumes about Prue and Stephen’s intimate knowledge of their vineyards.

It also speaks of the confidence they have in the ability of those vineyards to reveal themselves in the glass.

Winemaking may always be a bit of a gamble, but it’s clear that the Henschkes hold many – if not all – of the cards.

First taste: Henschke new releases

Related content

Henschke 2019: Single-vineyard releases

Rieslingfreak: Taking a diverse approach to a multifaceted grape

Penfolds Collection 2024: Cabernet Sauvignon wines shine in new releases

South Australian winery Penfolds and Domaine de la Chapelle in France’s Rhône Valley have teamed up to release a groundbreaking blend of French Syrah and Australian Shiraz. Grange La Chapelle was created by Peter Gago, chief winemaker at Penfolds, and Caroline Frey, chief winemaker and vigneron of Domaine de la Chapelle.

The wine, from the 2021 vintage, was presented by Frey and Gago at a global launch event in Paris on 9 February 2025. Scroll down for tasting notes of the new Grange La Chapelle and seven other wines tasted at the launch.

Scroll down for an assessment of the new Grange La Chapelle

Born out of a longstanding friendship between the two winemakers, Grange La Chapelle is a half-and-half blend of Syrah from Hermitage in the Northern Rhône and Shiraz – mostly from ancient vines – in the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley.

With the harvests six months apart in two different hemispheres, the French half of the wine was made and aged in France. It was airfreighted to Australia in a temperature-controlled, custom-made stainless steel container. Blended in Australia, the final wine was aged further before release.

Inspired blend

According to Gago, the original inspiration for Grange La Chapelle dated back to a 1987 dinner at Rakel Restaurant in New York, co-hosted by legendary Penfolds winemaker Max Schubert and Gérard Jaboulet, the former owner of Domaine de la Chapelle. The wines served were Penfolds Grange 1971 and Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1978.

Those same two wines were served again at the Paris launch, alongside their 1990s vintages, demonstrating their ageing potential.

‘The fact that these wines met so many times at winemakers’ dinners before made it clear that it was meant to happen,’ noted Frey.

Gago added: ‘A bit of history is happening here tonight. It is provocative, it is courageous, and we salute the people who made it happen.’

History comes full circle

Talking about the final composition of Grange La Chapelle, Frey confirmed that the French portion of the blend was exactly the same wine that’s bottled as La Chapelle Hermitage. Gago noted that the Australian half was made from the fruit of mainly pre-phylloxera vines.

Since Penfolds’ famous pan-Australian blend Grange was known as ‘Grange Hermitage’ until 1990, Gago suggested that this new Franco-Australian co-production makes history come full circle.

‘This really is a celebration of Syrah, or what we call Shiraz,’ he said. ‘Cabernet Sauvignon is so celebrated, we hope it will do something for Syrah.’

Future plans

‘This is a real project, with a real life; each vintage is 50/50,’ added Frey. The 2022 vintage of Grange La Chapelle has already been bottled, 2023 is in barrel and so is 2024.

Going ahead Frey and Gago expect annual releases of this wine, which is made in a very limited, but undisclosed, quantity.

Penfolds is no stranger to creating international blends. Since 1998, it has regularly released American-Australian blends with fruit sourced from Paso Robles, Napa Valley and Sonoma.

More recently, Penfolds collaborated with the house of Dourthe in Bordeaux to create its first French-Australian blend.

This limited release will retail at €2,600 and AU$3,500 per bottle; £2,160 in the UK and US$2,500 in the US. It is being sold via 18 selected specialist retailers globally to private clients only. In the UK that includes Goedhuis Waddesdon.

A small allocation will be sold directly by Penfolds in Australia and the US. Buyers can express interest on a dedicated website: grangexlachapelle.com

Grange La Chapelle and other iconic bottles: Tasting notes

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A dram of Scotch whisky may be the traditional choice for a Burns supper, but there are plenty of options for pairing wines with haggis, the meal’s focal point.

If choosing wines to match with haggis, look to fruit-driven, medium-bodied red wines, or white wines that have refreshing acidity but also enough weight to stand up to the fattiness and flavours.

Food and wine pairing is highly subjective, though, and experimenting can be part of the fun.

Six wine styles to drink with haggis on Burns Night 2025

• Syrah / Shiraz
• Shiraz-Grenache blends
• Riesling
• Grenache Blanc
• Pinot Noir
• Gamay 

Haggis on Burns Night

It’s common for dinner guests to stand as the haggis is carried into the room on a silver platter, accompanied by a piper, the chef and the person who will recite Robert Burns’ poem, ‘Address to a Haggis’.

Made well, and from a quality source, haggis offers a rich combination of meaty flavours with peppery and herby characters, as well as bit of spice. If you’re unsure about where to find it, try your local butcher.

That said, US food safety officials banned haggis imports in 1971 over the traditional inclusion of sheep’s lung.

Haggis maker Macsween of Edinburgh has been working to slightly adapt the recipe to create a ‘compliant version’ for the US, reported the UK’s Telegraph newspaper this week. It’s still in the testing phase, though.

It’s also possible to find or make vegetarian versions of haggis.

Pairing red wine with haggis

Fruit-driven red wines with good acidity are likely to be a better bet with haggis than those with heavily pronounced tannins or oak, which could overpower the flavours of the dish.

‘I’m always surprised at how peppery haggis is – not spicy, but peppery,’ said Tina Gellie, Decanter’s head of content.

‘And of course it is also dense, rich and meaty. As most people do on Burns Night, I have always paired my haggis, neeps and tatties with whisk(e)y, but if I were to choose a wine, I’d probably go for a juicy, fruit-driven red, where the tannins wouldn’t compete too much.’

Gellie suggested ‘maybe a cru Beaujolais, a Carignan or a Shiraz-Grenache blend’.

Arnaud Demas, group general manager at Galvin Restaurants in London, including Michelin-starred Galvin La Chapelle, told Decanter, ‘For a rustic dish like haggis, we recommend pairing it with a Syrah or Pinot Noir—wines that are rich in fruit and easy to drink.’

Demas, who is also an ex-head sommelier, added, ‘The key is to choose a wine with depth and fruit-forward character to balance the dish’s rustic nature. Medium to full-bodied Pinot Noirs are ideal, [but] avoiding anything too light.’

For specific matches, Demas highlighted the fruity and spiced profile of a Côtes du Rhône by producer Paul Jaboulet Aîné.

He also suggested Domaine Philippe Livera’s Gevrey-Chambertin ‘En Champs’ – describing it as a relatively full-bodied Burgundian Pinot Noir bringing ‘meaty complexity and soft tannins that perfectly complements the dish’.

German Spätburgunder (Pinot noir) with vegetarian haggis

Natalie Earl, Decanter Regional Editor for France (excluding Bordeaux), said she would enjoy vegetarian haggis with a German Spätburgunder.

‘Both have an earthy, savoury character, and the Spätburgunder is light enough not to make the whole combination too rich,’ she said.

Pairing white wines with haggis

If you’re looking for white wines to pair with haggis, refreshing acidity can still help to lift the dish but think about a trying a style with enough richness to stand up to the flavours.

Demas at Galvin Restaurants advised, ‘For white wines, avoid anything too dry or overly sweet. Instead, opt for a wine with a hint of fruitiness, such as a German Riesling or a [white] Grenache with subtle oxidation.’

Other options could include riper styles of Viognier, as well as Chardonnays with a touch of oak or creamy texture from malolactic fermentation.

Alternatively, experimenting with lesser-known styles, and trying out different combinations, is all part of the fun when it comes to wine and food pairing.

See more recent wine reviews by Decanter experts below.

If you’re planning to stick to spirits, here is our guide to 10 of the best Scotch whiskies to try on Burns Night.

Wines to drink with haggis for Burns Night 2025: Recent reviews by our experts

Recent reviews of wines at different price tiers by Decanter experts. The first two wines were among top-scorers in Decanter’s Wines of the Year 2024 feature.

This article has been republished from Decanter’s archive, with updated links and commentary in January 2025. 

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The story of Syrah in the southern hemisphere is believed to have started with the Scottish viticulturist and ‘father of Australian wine’ James Busby, who brought Syrah vines with him to the continent in 1832.

Since then, Australia has become one of the world leaders in Syrah, and still has some of the original, ungrafted vines, planted in the mid-1800s.

Second only to France in area under vine (see box below), Australia has made Syrah its own – not only in plantings, but also in name. The nation’s adoption of ‘Shiraz’ as a synonym for Syrah had two notable impacts on the broader wine industry.

Scroll down for 25 Syrahs from across the southern hemisphere

First, it added to the confusion over the variety’s origins, providing support for the belief that it’s somehow related to the Persian city of Shiraz: a gaffe that Busby himself made while writing in his journal.

More recent DNA testing, however, has shown that the variety originated in the Rhône valley, in southeast France.

Perhaps more significantly, though, Australia’s adoption of the name – along with its wildly different style of Syrah compared to that of the Rhône valley – popularised the notion of ‘Shiraz’ as a richer, riper, bolder, more fruit-driven – and distinctly New World – wine.

This notion of Shiraz, as opposed to Syrah, and the associated style, have been adopted by many producers worldwide.

Australia & New Zealand

Australia certainly still champions rich ‘Shiraz’ styles today, and some of the most acclaimed Australian Shiraz is unabashedly rich and chocolatey, often creeping well above 15% alcohol.

The wines of Barossa in South Australia, in particular, are typically of this ilk, and widely well loved for it.

What I find more exciting, however, is the drive in Australia’s diverse wine regions towards more regional distinction and some cooler-climate expressions (see David Sly’s Barossa 2022 report in our November issue).

The best wines – from appellations as varied as the Adelaide Hills, Geelong and Canberra – rein in the ripeness and show greater freshness and verve. McLaren Vale and the Eden Valley are also turning out some of Australia’s most sophisticated examples.

Over in New Zealand, the heartland of Syrah is without question Hawke’s Bay – which boasts the lion’s share in terms of both plantings and acclaim.

Although it has the smallest area under vine of the top five southern hemisphere Syrah countries, and by a very hefty margin – its 418ha equate to barely above 1% of Australia’s plantings, for example (see box) – New Zealand certainly punches above its weight.

The best examples exhibit a gravelly tension and polished tannins, with brooding black fruit and notes of cracked black pepper – clearly leaning more towards ‘Syrah’ in style than ‘Shiraz’.

Southern hemisphere Syrah: Area under vine

Australia: 39,893ha (2024)

Argentina: 10,777ha (2023)

South Africa: 8,713ha (2023)

Chile: 6,608ha (2022)

New Zealand: 418ha (2024)

[Inter Rhône gives plantings in all Rhône valley APs as ‘about 23,000ha’]

South Africa

In South Africa, too, top-end producers have been increasingly focusing on fresher, more nuanced expressions of Syrah – with a growing emphasis on single-site wines.

‘Syrah reflects terroir so beautifully and really gives an amazing reflection of place,’ says Andrea Mullineux, owner and winemaker at the eponymous estate.

‘What makes South Africa unique is that we have the oldest viticultural soils in the world. And because of the slow erosion, we have 40- to 50-kilometre outcrops of single soil types and we can show very pure examples.’

The Mullineux single-soil trio of Syrahs from the Swartland – from granite, schist and iron soils – are stunning examples of Syrah’s ability to translate terroir. Mullineux’s work has inspired other wineries, including the excellent Gabriëlskloof, to join this thrilling, site-specific Syrah movement in the Cape.

South America

Regional expression is also increasingly driving the most sophisticated and accomplished of Chile’s Syrah wines. Whether it’s at the breathtakingly high altitude of Viñedos de Alcohuaz in Elqui (above 2,200m in some cases), or in the cool coastal areas of San Antonio or Limarí, there’s a clear vision being driven in Chile for using Syrah as a vehicle for expressing its diverse wine regions.

Argentina, despite its impressive hectarage of Syrah vines, somewhat lags behind the other southern hemisphere wine giants when it comes to quality. Most of its Syrah is destined for glugging wine, although there are a few stars coming to the fore – including more savoury expressions from the Uco Valley.

Elsewhere in South America, Brazil and Uruguay are only minor players in the world of Syrah. However, some notable producers in the former’s mountainous Serra da Mantiqueira region, about 120km inland from Rio de Janeiro, are placing their bets on the variety, and the wines are steadily improving, vintage by vintage.

Global Appeal

Is Syrah the southern hemisphere’s greatest translator of terroir?

Equally comfortable in the mountains as it is by the sea, its chameleonic nature and widespread adoption surely make it among the best red varieties for exploring the diversity of southern hemisphere regions and terroirs today.

Southern hemisphere Syrah (& Shiraz): 25 of the best

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Clare in South Australia is a small rural town, with a population of just over 3,000 people, yet it produces extraordinary wines. Peter Barry has long been scheming how to make the wider world take notice of a region that punches far above its weight. Especially with Riesling.

Peter is the son of Jim Barry, the first qualified winemaker in Clare, who obtained his oenology degree in 1947 and worked for big wine companies before issuing the first Jim Barry Wines in 1974.

Peter took over the company reins as MD from 1985 (Jim died in 2004) and vigorously took Jim Barry Wines to the world. Now, in the twilight of his working life, Peter is watching his sons Tom Barry (winemaker) and Sam Barry (commercial manager), and daughter Olivia Barry (brand ambassador) lead the family company forward.

Tasting notes and scores for Jim Barry wines are listed below

Peter focused his energy on promoting Clare as a respected region that deserves its place on a global stage. His efforts ensured that racy, citrus-driven Clare Riesling is now a globally recognised style.

However the Barry sons have greater ambition: to have their best wines regarded among the wine world’s elite.

Next generation

This successful generational transition is significant. The question of succession hangs like an ominous cloud over Australia’s wine industry, as small to mid-sized wineries developed by winemaker/operators represent about 90% of Australia’s 2,156 wine companies (source: Wine Australia).

The future for many of these wineries is fraught as the original proprietors approach retirement.

The Barrys have no such qualms. Tom, the third generation to steer the winemaking of Jim Barry Wines, understands classic wine styles and traditions that built success for his grandfather Jim.

In addition, Tom’s experience doing vintages overseas also sees him adopting new techniques to build heightened aromas and finesse in the winery’s outstanding Rieslings.

The recent release of premium red wines from the impressive 2021 vintage also showcases Tom’s aim of promoting elegance through restrained oak use.

It offers an opportune time for the Barrys’ talents and intentions to shine – with more refined character, finesse and significant improvement as a consequence.

‘Our family planted vineyards with a purpose 50 years ago, and now we want to maximise their potential,’ explains Sam. ‘We see it as our opportunity to build on what came before us to achieve the extraordinary.’

Notable vineyards

The Barry family has been at the forefront of promoting the best attributes of Clare’s vineyards since Jim Barry purchased the 133ha Lodge Hill property (historically known as Wolta Wolta) in 1977.

Success grew through expanding the family’s vineyards assets, particularly through purchasing the Florita Vineyard at Watervale in 1986. The source of fruit for the famed 1960s Leo Buring Rieslings made by John Vickery, it is now supplying the fruit for the Jim Barry Florita and Watervale Rieslings.

The Barrys have also established their own superior sites. The Armagh vineyard (below) was planted by Jim in 1964, with 900 Malbec and 2,500 Cabernet Sauvignon vines. This was followed by a further 3.2ha of Shiraz vines in 1968, with a view to producing exceptional red wine.

Yielding less than four tonnes per hectare, The Armagh’s intense Shiraz was initially matured in only new American oak, to produce plush, opulent and persistent wines, before shifting to a mix of French and American oak that encourages a more sleek, elegant framework for the bold, powerful fruit.

Delicious secondary characters of tarry, black earth within savoury blackberry and sour cherry, which sit almost at counterpoint to playful whiffs of brown spice, pepper and fresh-cut brambles, have elevated The Armagh to stand as a modern Australian Shiraz icon.

Riesling developments

The way forward for Jim Barry Wines is based on a willingness to embrace innovation. Several recent significant Riesling innovations are being championed, the boldest being a collaboration with Germany’s Dr Ernst Loosen to make the 2021 Wolta Wolta Riesling.

Matured on lees in a 3,000-litre oak cask for two years, before a further year-long maturation in bottle, this is a unique, rich and highly textural style of Australian Riesling.

Recognising this to be a significant benchmark, the Barry family has retained 40% of the 2021 vintage to be held back as museum stock.

‘This Riesling has power and complexity that will only grow in the bottle, so we want to make sure it can be reintroduced to a global market for important milestones, after 20 years or 30 years in the cellar,’ explains Sam. ‘We are confident it will make a very important statement.’

A new jewel in the crown is the Spring Farm Vineyard, purchased in 2010 from Brian Barry (Jim’s brother, who died in 2020). Tom and Sam immediately noticed that several blocks within the big vineyard produce fruit of exceptional quality that deserve to be isolated for separate vinification.

A suite of new Spring Farm single-block wines includes Block 114 Riesling, which has been bottle aged for 10 years before release.

‘We’ve done this to show the merits of our wines showing at their very best,’ says Sam. ‘And because we want the classic Clare Riesling style to be a part of the global wine conversation.’

Going Greek

Another bold step saw Jim Barry Wines plant the first Assyrtiko vines in Australia. Peter sourced 12 cuttings from 100-year-old vines at Argyros Winery on the Greek island of Santorini during 2007.

They then endured a two-year quarantine before the best two vines were released. From those two mother vines, 32 buds were grafted onto 30 Riesling vines at two Clare Valley vineyard sites in 2011. The following year, 658 Assyrtiko vines were planted on a rugged, bony ridge atop the Barry’s Lodge Hill vineyard in Clare.

Peter was besotted by Assyrtiko’s meld of slate-like minerality and fresh citrus zing, and believes this grape variety’s ability to resist diseases and tolerate drought conditions makes it a good fit for Australia’s marginal growing environments.

‘Planting Assyrtiko may have seemed like a big gamble, but it takes us a step toward growing grapes that have a sustainable future in this region,’ says Tom. ‘We must face up to climate change and water scarcity and adapt our vineyard management appropriately, he adds.

It all fits comfortably within the larger story of Jim Barry Wines moving forward.

‘There’s a huge future here – and it’s all based on our tradition,’ says Peter. ‘The great wines from Clare – our Rieslings, our Cabernets, our Shiraz – sit among the great wines of the world, and that’s the message we have to keep broadcasting.’

Jim Barry Wines: 10 bottles to try

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Barossa Shiraz is a style of wine even non-drinkers have heard of. It has the kind of brand recognition other regions would kill for.

It’s a bit like Châteauneuf-du-Pape in that respect. Even people with no interest in wine have often heard of it, even if they haven’t tasted it.

The similarities don’t end there. Châteauneuf might be typically Grenache-dominant, but thanks to a hot and dry climate, both of these regions make famously concentrated, opulent, potent wines that can age for decades.

Neither are particularly fashionable, despite the fact the very best of their respective styles can be profound, complex and unmistakable wines of place.

So, if Barossa can be equated to Châteauneuf, can we compare other South Australian regions to parts of the Rhône? I think we can.

14 superb Australian Syrahs with an Old World slant listed below

Adelaide Hills

It might be a valley, but much of Barossa’s growing area is fairly flat. Venture south from Barossa into neighbouring Adelaide Hills and the scenery changes dramatically.

The straight roads start to bend back on themselves, hills get steeper and there’s shade from immense, sky-scraping trees that line the roads. At the end of summer, the grasses remain greener here compared to the dried Barossa scrub.

The vineyards are interspersed among the Mount Lofty Ranges. The sea is only around 20km away, but most vines are situated behind the highest peaks, so it’s not a major climatic influence.

What makes the difference is altitude – vines are grown between 400m and 650m; the days are hot but the nights are cool.

‘It’s much cooler than its latitude would suggest,’ says leading local winemaker Michael Hall. ‘Elevation is the key.’

The region is best known for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and sparkling wine, But Shiraz is making waves.

‘I like to call it Syrah,’ says Michael Downer of Murdoch Hill, as compared to hotter parts of Australia, here it’s ‘spice-driven, medium-bodied and more elegant’.

If Barossa Valley is the Châteauneuf of South Australia, then Adelaide Hills is its northern Rhône.

Basket Range producers

Adelaide Hills is home to the unofficial Basket Range group of natural winemakers. It’s comprised of producers such as BK Wines, Gentle Folk, Charlotte Dalton, Worlds Apart and Ochota Barrels.

None of these own vineyards, but they all create wines with originality and character.

‘Australia needs more diversity, things happening, more ideas,’ says Brendon Keys of BK Wines, and that’s exactly what they’re delivering.

They all have a Syrah in their range, and although they’re part of the same gang, each wine has a personality all of its own.

The winemaking trends here – whole bunch and old oak – further accentuate the smoky, herbal style that brings to mind fine Crozes-Hermitage or upright St-Joseph.

McLaren Vale

Continue south from Adelaide Hills towards the city of Adelaide and you descend into McLaren Vale. Vineyards are closer to the sea both in proximity and elevation, and the climate is Mediterranean – not as hot as Barossa, but warmer than Adelaide Hills.

Like the Mediterranean, this is a paradise for countless French, Spanish and Italian grape varieties. Think Fiano, Montepulciano, Vermentino or, as summarised by Brad Hickey of Brash Higgins: ‘Rhône varieties and anything that ends in an “o”.’

The most-planted grape however, at 57% of vineyard area, is Shiraz (according to Wine Australia’s McLaren Vale Regional Snapshot 2022-23).

It tends to be a warmer, riper expression than Adelaide Hills, but less dense and muscular than Barossa Valley. It’s stylistically more varied than both, thanks in part to its extraordinary diversity of soils.

When it comes to Syrah therefore, rather than comparing McLaren Vale to a specific Rhône appellation it might be better compared to the southern Rhône more generally.

Stylistic variation

That’s why neatly summarising the McLaren Vale style of Shiraz is tricky. Rather like the southern Rhône, some are big, bombastic, oaky, a bit old-fashioned.

But at the other end of the scale there are bright, well-balanced examples with attractive combinations of fruits, spices, herbs and flowers.

What they all share is a particular texture that’s best described as velvet.

Stand-out producers in the more drinkable, digestible style include Bondar, Koomilya (owned by SC Pannell), Orbis, Thistledown and Battle of Bosworth. Yangarra’s King’s Wood Shiraz is particularly worth seeking out for its balance and purity.

Yangarra’s estate in the northeast of McLaren Vale borders the elevated, sandy Blewitt Springs sub-region. This is a place of global interest for elegant, aromatic Grenache – and when Syrah is planted here, it shares this fragrant expression.

This is a singular site that produces a unique, identifiable style no matter the variety or producer – the sign of a great terroir.

As to whether McLaren Vale or Adelaide Hills makes a better Syrah, that depends entirely on the style you prefer. The grape has a longer backstory in McLaren Vale, and it’s the most widely planted grape.

In Adelaide Hills it’s a more recent addition but its potential is immense. I feel it’s more suited to the region than Pinot Noir.

Erinn Klein of Ngeringa in Adelaide Hills produces some of its best reds, and he says ‘long-term, it’s a Syrah region’. I think he’s right.

Matt Walls’ selection of the finest Syrahs from Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale

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Located 190km west of Melbourne at the craggy southern edge of the Great Dividing Range in Western Victoria, the remote Grampians region is home to Australia’s pioneering, now iconic, cool climate Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz.

It is also home to some of the world’s oldest Shiraz clonal material, the so-called Swiss clone (or Great Western clone), which predates phylloxera in the Rhône.

The Swiss clone arrived courtesy of French and Swiss immigrants who, lured by the prospect of gold, settled in the Grampians in the mid-19th century.

They soon planted the first generation of vines in the Great Western area. Unlike gold, vines have stayed the course.

In 1969, when the Fratin brothers founded Mount Langi Ghiran, they sourced Swiss clone cuttings from Best’s Great Western’s Nursery Vineyard, planted by Henry Best in 1866.

The Fratins planted them in soils which Damien Sheehan – a veteran of 28 Mount Langi Ghiran vintages – calls ‘granite-infused loam’.

Scroll down for Sarah Ahmed’s Mount Langi Ghiran tasting notes

Siren spice

Having succumbed to the beguiling black pepper siren call of the Shiraz, Trevor Mast acquired the Mount Langi Ghiran estate in partnership with the first of two successive investors in 1981.

This was just six years after he started consulting for the Fratin brothers. The pioneering cool climate winemaker swiftly put Mount Langi Ghiran on the map.

The inimitable Shiraz he made caught the eye of Darren Rathbone, CEO and group winemaker of Rathbone Wine Group, which acquired the winery in 2003.

Reflecting on the motivation behind the purchase, Rathbone explains that Mount Langi Ghiran’s appeal went beyond ‘the Grampians’ style being closer to the Rhône than the Barossa’.

He contends: ‘You cannot make Shiraz like this anywhere but Mount Langi Ghiran; it is in an absolutely unique spot.’

Love in a cold climate

The Swiss clone was thought to hold the key to peppery Shiraz, until the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) identified that rotundone was the compound responsible for pepperiness in 2007.

According to the AWRI’s research, rotundone occurs predominantly in grape skins, but also in leaves and stems.

It appears in higher concentrations at relatively low mean January temperatures (MJT), which occur at the peak of Australian summer. It increases during the later stages of ripening.

The AWRI’s findings reinforce Rathbone’s observations about Mount Langi Ghiran’s singularity given that the estate occupies the coldest spot of all in the Grampians.

While the overall regional MJT in the Grampians is 20.2℃, Mount Langi Ghiran’s MJT is only 18.35℃. This is colder than Launceston in Tasmania, Australia’s coolest climate state.

Test of nerve

Being inland, Mount Langi Ghiran benefits from a marked continental climate. This tempers the effect of elevation (the estate sits at 350m) and the bone-chilling south-westerlies off the Southern ocean.

These winds funnel between the Grampians range to the west and Pyrenees range to the east.

The significantly lower MJT additionally reflects the estate’s position at the base of Mount Langi Ghiran itself (922m), with Mount Cole (760m) and the adjoining state forest directly opposite.

During the evening, cold air tumbles down the mountains and flows through the valley, cloaking the vineyard in mist. In autumn, these mountains cast a shadow over the vineyard, reducing sunlight hours.

During January, peak temperatures at Mount Langi Ghiran might hit 35℃. But they drop to 5℃ or 6℃ overnight, according to Rathbone.

This accounts for the estate’s long hang times, which elevate rotundone levels and allow grapes to attain flavour and phenolic (tannin) ripeness, while maintaining acidity.

Fortunately, given its location 300km inland, the Grampians is dry, with little prospect of rain at harvest. However there is a downside in warmer years.

Rathbone explains: ‘You get to 14 or 14.5% alcohol early, but the tannins are hard and green. It takes a lot to hold my nerve and say “I’m not ready to pick yet”.’

Spatial reasoning

Following Rathbone’s investment in planting and precision viticulture, Shiraz for the top wines is now hand-harvested – which, he says, ‘produced a big quality jump’.

It is fermented with whole berries, sometimes whole bunch, in small parcels.

Only the best hand-picked grapes from Mount Langi Ghiran’s original parcel, known as the Old Block, make the cut for Mount Langi Ghiran’s famously peppery Langi Shiraz today.

The Old Block is exclusively planted to the Swiss clone and ‘tends to a dark berry fruit spectrum, laden with mixed spice’ according to chief winemaker Adam Louder.

As for the rotundone factor, following field trials in 2012, 2013 and 2015, the AWRI produced a ‘spice map’ identifying a spatial pattern to rotundone accumulation.

It revealed that the Old Block’s least-exposed south and south-east parcels might accumulate three times more rotundone.

The studies also highlighted that cooler years produce more rotundone, which the vertical tasting confirmed.

Based on the available data, rotundone levels ranged from 8 nanograms per litre for the 2013 Langi Shiraz (which is below the perception level of 16ng/L), to 118ng/L for the 1999 vintage.

In the glass

The overall balance and finesse of Langi Shiraz impressed at this tasting. Cooler vintages garnered my highest scores, displaying exquisite detail, fragrant, peppery spice, cool granitic (pertrichor) minerality, agile fruit.

The dynamic acid and tannin structure also allows top vintages such as 1999 to flow effortlessly, yet age gracefully.

Warmer, drier years like 2013 with elevated whole-bunch fermentation, produced meatier, firmer wines, with more backward fruit.

If the fruit opens up, as Rathbone predicts, they may warrant higher scores. Going forward, he regards whole-bunch ferments as ‘a tool we will consider’.

However he notes: ‘We are finding that we are getting better results with whole berry.’

Single vineyard sites

Shiraz accounts for just over 70% of Mount Langi Ghiran’s 70ha vineyard, which produces three additional estate labels.

The single-parcel Mast Shiraz is from House Block 4, the coolest block, planted by Mast to clone P23. Talus Shiraz is from warmer mixed clonal blocks and Cliff Edge – the lightest-framed entry-point estate Shiraz – is a melange of blocks and clones.

Louder describes the Swiss clone as tending to ‘fine, yet firm tannins’ versus the ‘earthy fine tannins’ of P23 clone and ‘lighter’ tannin of 1654 clone.

In line with his observations, Mount Langi Shiraz had the most gravitas. The other Shiraz clones (PT23 and 1654) had more supple tannins, notwithstanding Mast coming from the coolest site.

The riper velvety tannins and fruit of Talus additionally reflect its warmer parcels.

Whether from early vintages featuring American and French oak, or the 100% French oak used by Rathbone now, the wood was seamlessly integrated.

With the exception of the Langi Shiraz 2019, so was the alcohol, despite being rather more elevated than one might expect of a benchmark cool climate Shiraz.

Of course that is a function of being among the last Shiraz vines to be picked in Australia. Typically Mount Langi Ghiran Shiraz is harvested at least six weeks after the Barossa Valley, during late April or early May.

Slow is evidently the way to go.

Rathbone reports that in 2021: ‘Everything was mild, nothing happened too quickly and, with a long cool summer, it was steady all the way through, with plenty of picking windows, including six for Langi Shiraz.’

He describes it as a ‘spectacular’ vintage. With their elevated rotundone levels (79ng/L) and scores, the siren spice call of all four of Mount Langi Ghiran’s 2021 Shiraz releases thoroughly beguiled me too.

Mount Langi Ghiran vertical

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In 2021, winemakers, like the rest of us, were poised to rebound from the most challenging year in recent memory for, well, the entire human race. But the year was hardly a panacea, nor was it an easy bounce back from 2020.

The heat was extreme at times and unparalleled even for the hot desert climate that is home to nearly all of the Columbia Valley. Furthermore, there were still lingering issues from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding staffing and safety protocols, particularly in states like Washington and Oregon.

In addition, wildfires were once again a problem, although their impacts seem to be isolated to very specific parts of Washington State. I tasted a few wines (less than 10 in a sampling of over 300 wines) impacted by the Schneider Springs Fire, which was localised to some western parts of the Columbia Valley appellation.

However, while the best wines of 2021 undoubtedly show ripeness, there is elegance, balance, and a subdued freshness in those from the top producers.

Both Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah showed brilliance with refined tannins and minerality when diligence was exercised in picking decisions.

Columbia Valley 2021 red wines of the vintage

Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope 98 points

WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley 98 points

Columbia Valley 2021 white wine of the vintage

Delmas, Viognier, Rocks District of Milton-Freewater 96 points

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Columbia Valley 2021 wines

Columbia Valley vintage ratings

2021 3/5

A vintage beset by record-shattering temperatures, 2021 in terms of wine quality, was a vintage for those pursuing balance. The heat dome in June, coupled with continued hot weather all the way through harvest, made acidity and freshness harder to come by for many Columbia Valley producers. Winemakers in slightly cooler sights benefitted, as did those who relied on proactive vineyard management. Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon showed that they could take the heat for the most part, and many up-and-coming producers made wines that stood out by picking earlier and benefitting from sites with strong mineral character.

2020 3/5

In this slightly warmer-than-average year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced wineries to create strategies that allowed them to continue to make wine. The best show finesse and balance, with fine examples, in particular, coming from the Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. In September, wildfires raged to the south in Oregon, creating difficulty with ripening and impacting some vineyards with smoke taint. However, there wasn’t the same widespread damage here as in parts of Oregon and California.

2019 5/5

It was a cooler year for the warm, largely desert-growing conditions, this and a cold, wet winter, delayed bud break and bloom delivering wines with great elegance, finesse, and balance. Challenging frost events in September and October contributed to smaller yields. The top wines show beautiful finesse and elegance balanced against Washington’s characteristic tannin structure and reliable ripeness.

The heat is on

Living in the Pacific Northwest, I experienced the late June heat dome first-hand. It was a horrifying experience, the likes of which I had never seen before. In Seattle, which typically sees summer temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s (21-26°C), it was 108°(42°C) for multiple days. Despite our coastal location, the air did not move. It was suffocating and it turns out, the deadliest weather-related event in Washington State’s history.

Trothe founder Jeff Andrews’ family has been growing wine grapes for generations in the Horse Heaven Hills, and with all that experience, the heat of 2021 still looms as a defining factor of the vintage. ‘2021 was the year that all the talk of warming trends and excessive heat projections became more than theory,’ says Andrews. ‘It was an undeniable reality. We recorded twenty days of 100°(37° C) or more at Andrews Family Vineyards between 2 June and 16 August. We’ve had warm-to-hot vintages in the past, but 2021 was something we had never experienced before.’

‘Since then, we’ve had one hot vintage after another. Even this year (2024), a “cool” vintage, has been very warm by historical standards,’ Andrews continues.

‘We’re doing everything we can to adapt to the annual onslaught of excessive summer heat, taking steps in the vineyard to produce the best fruit each vintage and preserve plant health for future vintages. We pay close attention to crop load, canopy size, water, and nutrition needs,’ said Andrews.

Columbia Valley 2021: top 10 wines of the vintage

(alphabetically and by score)

Gård, Grand Klasse Syrah, Royal Slope 98 points

WT Vintners, Boushey Vineyard Syrah, Yakima Valley 98 points

DeLille Cellars, Chaleur Estate, Red Mountain 97 points

Force Majeure, Estate Syrah, Red Mountain, 97 points

From the Sky Down, Solaksen Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Grand Klasse Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Gård, Winemaker Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope 97 points

Quilceda Creek, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley 97 points

Trothe, Cabernet Sauvignon, Horse Heaven Hills 97 points

WT Vintners, Les Collines Syrah, Walla Walla Valley 97 points

A season of extremes

The challenges of 2021 were not only about heat. For many growers, it was the lowest-yielding vintage they’d seen in their careers, and several factors may have been at play.

The winter of 2020 included a late-winter freeze, and precipitation throughout that winter and into spring was lower than seasonal averages, leaving soils dry. Bud break came early, on the last day of March, and then it got cold for a stretch of about ten days, with temperatures below freezing. Hot temperatures followed, and bloom arrived in mid-May. It was windy and hot during bloom, creating challenges for fruit set and, ultimately, yield.

‘2021 was an interesting vintage,’ says Brooke Delmas Robertson, director of viticulture and winemaking for Delmas in The Rocks District AVA.

‘We saw extremes on both ends of the season. Hail and cool temps well into April, while the summer saw temps as high as 115° before the end of June. Residual freeze effects in the phloem (vascular tissue) of the vines and heat spikes too early in the season contributed to very low yields across all varieties, not just in The Rocks District but the Walla Walla Valley as a whole. Beautiful wines were made, but there are not a lot of them.’

The heat dome, which Delmas Robertson references, was the defining feature of 2021. It was an anomaly even in the hot region of eastern Washington and Oregon, where growers saw temperatures across the Columbia Valley go into the 120° (49°C ) range for several days.

See all 300+ Columbia Valley 2021 wines tasted from Washington State and Oregon

Pursuing balance

Most of the Columbia Valley is a desert, which means low disease pressure, ample ripeness and cool nights that allow for sufficient acid retention. For many winemakers, this ‘Goldilocks’ set of conditions, coupled with the ability to irrigate as needed, has made for relatively easy and reliable vintages over the last decade. As hot vintages become the norm, Washington winemakers’ ‘set it and forget it’ attitude from 10 to 20 years ago will be forced to change.

Those with estate vineyards, or a dedicated winegrower who is hands-on in the vine rows, will become essential as climate change pushes temperatures and shrinks picking windows, and certainly made a difference in 2021.

‘Being a viticulturist is a huge advantage when it comes to making wine,’ says Gård winemaker Matias Kusulas. ‘Being the head viticulturalist at an all-estate winery, means I have complete control in every block of every vineyard when it comes to decision making. Dialling in irrigation, fruit mass, and canopy management for a hot season is critical to good chemistry, the right aromatic and flavour compounds, and phenolic development – all of which are very important to a balanced wine. You can only do so much at the winery without negatively affecting the wine’s organoleptic profile. The best approach, to me, is paying close attention and focusing your efforts in the vineyard.’

‘The most important decision I made in 2021 was determining when to pick,’ says Trothe’s winemaker, Ray McKee. ‘It’s an important decision each year: picking determines how you capture the character of the fruit–perhaps underripe and green, or perfectly ripe, fresh, and vibrant, or possibly overripe and lacking nuance. The intensity of 2021 made the picking decision even more pivotal.’

‘As a wine-growing region, Washington has been getting steadily warmer since 2013, and I’ve learned a little more each year – my most important takeaway is that the picking window for great wines is actually relatively small. In 2021, it was still 90°(32°C) or above in October, when it’s typically in the 70s (21°C), and I picked Cabernet earlier than ever before to capture the variety’s vibrancy and avoid a one-note, baked-out wine.’

Columbia Valley 2021: 30 of the top wines tasted

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The mountainous area of the Massif Central occupies about a sixth of France, bordering Beaujolais and the Rhône to the east and Languedoc to the south. The massif’s southern section consists of a number of limestone plateaus – called causses in the Occitan language, from the Latin calx, meaning ‘lime’.

It’s this landscape, with its stalactite-littered caverns and dramatically deep gorges, that gives rise to one of France’s most famous cheeses: Roquefort (also the first product of any kind in France to be granted ‘appellation d’origine’ status under the then-new law of 1925).

It’s also one of these arid, sparsely populated limestone plateaus, the Causse du Larzac, that defines a spectacular wine terroir: the Terrasses du Larzac.

Scroll down for highlights from Terrasses du Larzac

Ten years since itself becoming an independent AP (appellation d’origine protégée, as the designation has been known since early 2016), Terrasses du Larzac has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting and dynamic areas in this vast region.

Identified as a denomination of the wider Languedoc in 2004, this is one of the rare regions that gained its appellation status quickly; usually the process takes many years.

In Rosemary George MW’s 2001 book The Wines of the South of France, Terrasses du Larzac hardly gets a look in. ‘I gave it little more than a cursory mention,’ she acknowledges in her 2018 book Wines of the Languedoc, yet it ‘has attracted enormous interest over the past 20 years’.

And for good reason.

Lay of the land

Up on the arid, exposed Larzac plateau, wind-battered grassland is interspersed with gnarled lumps of grey-white rock that resemble ancient ruins. This Jurassic landscape – 145 million-200 million years old – has a long history of supporting the Lacaune sheep that provide the milk used in Roquefort production, an activity in which a number of wine estates were also historically involved.

The wheels of this veiny blue cheese that age in the caves under the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, at the western edge of the Causse du Larzac, benefit from similar natural phenomena as the vineyard area below.

The caves feature cracks and fissures (called fleurines) that allow cool winds from high up on the plateau to blow down through the mountain itself, creating the perfect conditions for ageing the cheese.

These same winds blow off the top of the plateau into the foothills where the Terrasses du Larzac vineyards lie, one element in a terroir that’s ideal for producing wines with an inherent freshness.

‘We’re an appellation with Languedoc generosity but Larzac freshness,’ says Jean-Baptiste Granier, owner and winemaker of Les Vignes Oubliées.

The region’s climate, which is heavily influenced by the proximity of the Larzac plateau, is a unifying factor in an appellation with a huge diversity of soils, exposures and elevations.

This is one of the most northerly vineyard areas of Languedoc, scattered across 32 villages and communes that hug the foothills of the causse and fan out along the geological terraces that stretch to the confluence of the Hérault and Lergue rivers at Canet, forming a rough ‘V’ shape.

Vines are planted between 40 metres and 450m. Hillsides and valleys cut like notches into the landscape, creating a wealth of different exposures.

This, combined with the northerly latitude and more inland location, means that there’s a significant diurnal temperature range, ‘at least 20°C difference between night and day in the summer months’, says Loïc Benezeth, fourth-generation winemaker at Domaine La Rouquette.

This helps to preserve freshness and acidity, but also provides a ‘bigger aromatic revelation’, says Vincent Goumard, owner and winemaker of Mas Cal Demoura.

The Terrasses terroir: a patchwork of soils

The vineyard area is a complex array of geological eras – a fascinating mix of colour, shape and texture, a Kandinsky painting splashed out across the terrain. As soil types meander through alkaline limestone to more acidic sandstone and schist, the wild Mediterranean vegetation that surrounds the vineyards changes – a shifting, contrasting, metamorphosing landscape.

The thyme, juniper, bay and holm oak of the limestone-based garrigue transforms into the heather, mint, white oak and lavender of the sandstone-based maquis. Although communication around individual terroirs is at a nascent stage, a few specific areas are worth pointing out…

Cercle de la Blaquière

An enclave to the west of Mont St-Baudille, at 300m, from St-Privat down to St-Jean-dela-Blaquière. It’s mainly grès (sandstone) and schist – although not the same schist found in the Faugères appellation further southwest. The combination of schist and cool night-time temperatures brings elegance and silky tannins.

Escalette

The upper valley of the Lergue river, at 350m-400m, with rocky limestone soils and a very cool climate. Some vineyards are on terraces, and there are clapas – piles of stones – that surround the vineyards.

‘Women removed these large stones from the vineyards so that men could work the land,’ says Delphine Zernott of Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette, ‘but they also act as barriers, protecting vines from strong winds.’

This is a particularly fresh terroir, ‘really white wine country’, according to Decanter contributing editor Andrew Jefford. Reds have fresh acidity, a lighter body and a saline, mineral character.

Salagou and ruffes

In the west around the manmade Salagou lake, with a few outcrops in the southern part of St-Jean-de-la-Blaquière, striking red soils resemble the Australian outback. These ruffes (from the Latin rufus/Occitan ruffus, meaning ‘red’), were formed during the Permian period some 275m years ago.

According to author and geologist Luc David, these are alluvial terraces, with silty iron-oxide-rich soils. There’s also basalt from ancient volcanic eruptions.

Aniane and Puéchabon

To the east of the Hérault river, a few top-quality estates have made their mark, notably Mas de Daumas Gassac and Domaine de la Grange des Pères, although neither labels its wines as Terrasses du Larzac. Hilly vineyards with stony limestone soils and galets roulés (large, rounded stones) make for a lunar landscape.

The heart: Jonquières and surrounds

The lower-lying ancient terraces of the Lergue river. The soil is varied but there’s more clay here, with limestone pebbles as well as galets roulés. This part also includes Montpeyroux and St-Saturnin, historic denominations under the Languedoc appellation, both of which hope to gain individual AP status. The wines are denser and more structured.

The Buèges valley

Extending far up the right-hand branch of the Terrasses du Larzac ‘V’. This follows the Cévennes fault line, with glacial deposits of fractured limestone.

Grapes & styles

Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan are the key varieties in this red-only appellation, with Cinsault, Counoise, Lledoner Pelut, Morrastel and Terret Noir as secondaries. A blend of at least three varieties is required.

As in other Languedoc regions, a renewed appreciation of once-maligned Carignan is helping to save old vines and bring fresh acidity to blends. Syrah, on the other hand, is suffering across Languedoc due to its sensitivity to drought, but here it’s less aggrieved, thanks to the fresh climate.

Even so, Amélie d’Hurlaborde of Mas d’Amile says that the climate keeps reminding them to look after the indigenous varieties that have better resistance to drought, like Carignan.

Cinsault plays an increasingly important role here, lending blends an ethereal, floral, juicy quality. I also love pure Cinsault – of course it’s not permitted under the appellation rules, but a few producers bottle one as Vin de France or IGP, so it warrants a mention here.

Try examples from Mas Combarèla, Le Clos Rivieral, Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette, Le Clos Rouge (Piccolo 2021, £22.49 The Wine Reserve) and Mas Conscience (Cieux 2021, £18 Dead Time).

Although it’s hard to generalise about the style of a large region with such variable geology, there are four striking things about the wines: their freshness, drinkability, aromatic display and tannic finesse.

Generous, dark brambly fruit is often tempered and lifted by red fruit undertones. Notes of garrigue – sage, thyme, juniper – are infused into the very core of the wines’ being. Many are moreish, delectable and succulent, boasting suave tannins with the texture of fine, wet clay.

Some are also elevated by a stony, iodine, mineral quality. It’s when these elements come together that the vigneron has succeeded in sharing their place with the drinker.

Although not currently permitted under the appellation rules, white wines are making promising strides and an official request for their inclusion is being assessed as I write.

The main varieties would be Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Rolle, Carignan Blanc and Chenin Blanc. Many of the whites currently made under the local IGPs are delicious, so this is definitely an area to watch.

Overall, despite the quality coming out of the region, the Terrasses du Larzac wines still appear fairly difficult to sell abroad. ‘It is the name of the estate that sells the wine,’ says Marcel Orford-Williams, wine buyer at UK retailer The Wine Society and DWWA judge for Languedoc-Roussillon.

Indeed the wide variety of terroirs and potential styles makes it difficult to define a singular identity for the region – but arguably this is also the region’s strength.

The place to be

The Terrasses du Larzac region is incredibly dynamic, having a combination of long-standing, native producers (such as Mas Jullien, Mas des Chimères and Domaine de Montcalmès, which all helped to create the reputation of the appellation) and a steady stream of newcomers who have arrived in a relatively short space of time (40 new wine-growers since 2014).

Some big names, including the likes of Gérard Bertrand, Calmel & Joseph and Vignobles Jeanjean, even have properties here.

‘With this mix, it could have been two worlds that coexisted but didn’t acknowledge each other, but that’s not at all what happened,’ says Sébastien Fillon, president of the appellation and winemaker at Le Clos du Serres. ‘They interacted and exchanged and discussed, and the people from outside were accepted, so it worked.’

One senses the cohesion and partnership among the producers.

‘Everyone helps each other. We’re friends – there’s no competition,’ says Benezeth, who took over the family domaine in 2021 at the age of 26.

‘When you’re young and recently installed in the region, it’s important to have the big names on your side.’

What’s more, about 80% of producers are organic and many are biodynamic, too (and the proportion rises to 92% if HVE and Terra Vitis certification are taken into account), which highlights a certain like-mindedness among them, and also ‘allows for large areas in which biodiversity can thrive and a natural balance can be achieved’, according to Goumard.

The wines, with their fluidity and delicate structures, could strike a chord with new drinkers discovering wine for the first time, as well as seasoned wine lovers looking for wines with a southern soul but also balance and finesse.

In the mighty tome that is the Languedoc, Terrasses du Larzac might be the most compelling chapter.

Terrasses du Larzac: the facts

Producers: 96 independents, 3 cooperatives; 4 négociants

Area planted: 747ha (AP)

Production (2023): 2.7m bottles

Average yield (2023): 27.1hl/ha

Grapes: Principal Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan; Secondary Cinsault, Counoise, Lledoner Pelut, Morrastel, Terret Noir

Blends: At least three varieties, of which two must be principal varieties; principal varieties at least 75% of the blend; no single variety more than 70% of the blend; Carignan maximum 50%, Cinsault maximum 25%; secondary varieties (other than Cinsault) max 10%

Organic producers (2023): 79% certified or under conversion (92% if including HVE or Terra Vitis certification)

[Source: AP Terrasses du Larzac]

Producers to know in Terrasses du Larzac

Clos Constantin

Domaine de Montcalmès

Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette

Les Vignes Oubliées

Mas Cal Demoura

Mas d’Amile

Mas des Brousses

Mas Combarèla

Mas Conscience

Mas Jullien

New & noteworthy:

Domaine de l’Accent

Domaine Flo Busch

Les 8 Sarments

Le Clos des Combals

Mas Lasta

Mas Origine

Languedoc charm: 10 wines from Terrasses du Larzac

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A young winemaker couple: one Kiwi, one Australian, both born under the star sign Libra. Both had a deep love of Italy and shared a dream of making their own wine. Work had taken them around the globe, but a job in New Zealand called them home.

They lost no time in securing land and planted their dream vineyard. Unlike most people in New Zealand, they planted on a hill. They called their venture Bilancia – because it was the name of their star sign and what they aspired to in their wine: balance and harmony.

They called the Syrah-based wine they made from 2002 onwards La Collina, Italian for ‘little hill’, after the name of the vineyard. It has since become a New Zealand icon.

Tasting notes and scores from a vertical of La Collina listed below

The couple are Melbourne-born Lorraine Leheny and New Zealander Warren Gibson. They met at Roseworthy College in South Australia. Farmers’ son Gibson had no truck with his family’s dairy and orchard business, but knew wine was going to be his career.

Leheny had come to do a postgrad in wine after qualifying in food technology. They moved to Auckland together, but ‘for the next four years, he was everywhere but New Zealand’, Leheny jokes about her husband’s stints as flying winemaker in Hungary, Italy and Australia.

For a while, the couple worked together in Margaret River. ‘In mid-1995, Warren was offered the winemaking job at Trinity Hill in Hawke’s Bay [a position he holds to this day which won him and his wines many accolades] and we’d always said that if we were going to make wine in New Zealand, Hawke’s Bay would be the place,’ Leheny remembers.

Putting down roots

‘We came here in 1997 and this is where we have been ever since,’ she adds. They bought land in 1997 and started planting in 1998. However, this involved terracing the hill first and doing most work by hand – which continues to this day.

‘It is not so unusual,’ says Gibson about farming on hillsides. ‘But you can see why people don’t want to do it. As we become older, it becomes more difficult,’ he adds.

La Collina is planted on Roys Hill, a sandstone ridge with some limestone covered in clay. Facing north, it’s 80m higher than the surrounding flat land and the famous Gimblett Gravels that spread northwards from the hill towards the Ngaruroro River.

These are metre-deep deposits of incredibly well-drained gravel. But La Collina is different.

‘Realistically, the climate is the same in terms of temperature and rainfall,’ Gibson explains. ‘But the soil is completely different, the aspect is completely different and there is the wind. We are completely sheltered from the south, mostly the west, completely exposed to the north, protected from the east. Everything is different apart from temperature and rainfall. So soil, aspect and wind are the three things that distinguish La Collina,’ he adds.

Passion project

Gibson also prefers to talk of the number of vines rather than acreage, as the 4,500 Syrah vines are spaced more widely on the terraces. ‘Looking back, we probably wouldn’t have planted the vineyard, because it enslaved us for the past 25 years,’ he says with a straight face, as Leheny laughs at their folly.

‘Our son was born in January 1998,’ Leheny adds. ‘We came to Hawke’s Bay in 1997 and by the end of 1998, we had a business, a child, a vineyard. We had put much off, but we decided we are here now, this is what we’re going to do.’

They do not have to spell it out – you can see on their faces that their project was and still is hard work. They have no employees.

‘Part of accepting the job as winemaker at Trinity Hill was the deal that we would be able to use their facilities to make our own wine,’ continues Leheny. ‘We were very lucky in that regard.’ Bilancia wines are still made at that winery.

‘We have our own barrels, our own tanks,’ says Gibson. ‘Our own operating systems,’ adds Leheny. ‘It is run as a separate business as opposed to a contract facility. After 28 years it’s still working well, so there is no reason to change that.’

Future and past

Bilancia is, in effect, a little, self-financed boutique operation. When I ask the couple what the future holds for La Collina after 28 years on the land, Leheny responds. ‘Our plan is to continue. We don’t have any plans to stop making wine. We’re still working in the vineyard. Right now, we are looking forward to selling 2024 which is still in barrel.’

Going back in time, 2002 was the first vintage of La Collina released. ‘2002 was a good season and the vines were still young, but we felt it was time to get going,’ Gibson says. ‘We released it at NZ$80 which was quite a statement,’ he adds.

To warrant the quality of their flagship wine, the duo did not make it the following year. Indeed no Collina was made in 2003, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2022 and 2023 – sometimes due to frost, sometimes due to cyclones that batter the east coast of New Zealand in March and April when grapes are harvested.

The wines are all mostly Syrah-based, some of them have small additions of Viognier, some of Viognier and Mourvèdre. La Collina is sometimes fermented with whole bunches, while the length of oak ageing and the amount of new oak is determined each vintage afresh.

The wines below were tasted in a little pod overlooking La Collina in February 2024 with Gibson and Leheny. They showed what a special site for Syrah this is, what a legacy they created and how intuitive their approach is to expressing this site.

Bilancia vertical: Tasting notes

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Imagine you’re an actor in a film with a large ensemble of other highly competent artists. None of you are household names. But the lead role has just been cast – and it’s gone to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

On the one hand, it’s good to have a superstar to draw attention to the movie. But on the other hand, you can’t help but feel in the shadow of this huge, charismatic individual.

That’s what it must be like sometimes, to be a winemaker in the southern Rhône.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for 17 Sablet wines

It’s unusual for a whole wine region to be so dominated by one name, but Châteauneuf-du-Pape is recognised the world over. In terms of fame, no other Rhône appellation compares.

Châteauneuf is famous for big, powerful, muscular wines, so it’s unsurprising that people sometimes measure other Rhône appellations by the same yardstick. But other terroirs are bound to come up short, as they just don’t deliver that kind of wine. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t just as valid in their own way.

Can elegance, for example, be a strength? I think it can.

For those looking for a more compact expression of the southern Rhône, one that celebrates finesse, Sablet is a good place to look.

Against the grain

Sablet is one of the 21 named villages of the southern Rhône. It’s situated next door to Gigondas, at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail massif.

If you try to make a Châteauneuf-style red here – dark in colour, concentrated, with bold tannins – you’re destined to fail. The terroir will simply not provide that – because Sablet is built on sand.

In fact, sable is the French for sand.

There’s safre here too – a compact sandstone that’s ‘almost harder than rock,’ according to appellation co-president Philippe Lambert of Domaine des Pasquiers.

You can spot jagged lumps of it like broken paving slabs around the perimeter of some vineyards where they’ve been hauled out the ground by tractors.

A third of the terrain here is made up of these sandy soils, laid down when the area was flooded by the Mediterranean Sea millions of years ago.

Grow red grapes on sand, and typically what you’ll get is a wine that’s relatively pale in colour, medium-bodied rather than full, with very fine tannins. White and rosé wines usually have a refined, elegant style too, when produced from these soils.

According to Loïc Alazard of Domaine les Sibu, the other co-president of the appellation, ‘it’s our signature – purity and elegance.’

Cast and cru

For most wine lovers, a pale colour isn’t a problem when it comes to red wines. If you pour a Pinot Noir, a Cinsault or a Poulsard that’s overly dark, it’s grounds for suspicion.

But the southern Rhône is a region that prizes a deep, dark hue in the glass. Perhaps that’s one factor that’s held Sablet back from being promoted to cru status.

Sablet was given ‘named village’ status back in 1974 – this year marks its 50th anniversary – yet winemakers are still struggling to push it further up the appellation rankings.

Lambert and Alazard are leading a contingent of dedicated winemakers, ‘but it takes a lot of time,’ says Lambert – they have to toil away on the project after work for free. But for Alazard, success will be worth it.

‘To be a cru is a sign of quality, of prestige,’ he says. ‘As a village, we’re a child; but as a cru, we’ll be an adult.’

Alazard is in his 30s, and lists eight or so other domaines that are in the hands of colleagues of a similar age. A new generation is gradually taking over, which he hopes will be a source of renewed energy and resolve.

Of the now-21 named villages of the southern Rhône (Laudun was recently promoted from village to cru), it’s clear that Sablet is among the most deserving of promotion.

Its wines have an identifiable natural style, one that celebrates nuance and elegance.

Just like Hollywood, the southern Rhône can do many styles well. And sometimes, rather than Arnold Schwarzeneggar, it’s Timothée Chalamet that’s right for the role.

17 Sablet wines to try

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The stellar reputation of South America’s premium red wines has been built on the region’s iconic varietal wines: Argentinian Malbec, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère, and Uruguayan Tannat.

Yet these wines are a relatively recent phenomenon, only really gathering pace in the 1980s when South American wineries – their sights set on export – joined the wave of varietally labelled wines emerging from the New World.

Prior to this shift in focus, South American winemakers had been more interested in producing European-style blends – and Bordeaux blends in particular. This was a reflection of the early French and other European influences on the local wine industry.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 18 premium South American red blends

Blending traditions

The first South American vineyards were planted by Spanish settlers and missionaries in the 1500s, but it was the wave of European immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s that had the most significant impact on the development of the modern South American wine industry.

Many wineries were founded or advised by French vignerons, and mass immigration from wine-producing regions of Spain, Italy and France in particular ensured that European varieties and sensibilities took hold. European blends found a new home in South America.

Varietal Malbec, Cabernet, Carmenère and Tannat moved into starring roles on the world stage in the decades following the 1980s surge, and since then top winemakers have continued to evolve their premium blends behind the scenes.

The best Bordeaux-style blends are far from mere imitations of Bordeaux. South America’s winemakers are creative, blending in the local heroes Malbec, Carmenère and Tannat.

Other European varieties such as Syrah and Cabernet Franc are also adding refinement, with winemakers seeking to balance tradition and innovation.

Meanwhile, the emergence of new geographical indications (or GIs – delimited areas indicating the origin of a wine, which may be stated on labels), such as the sub-regional GIs of the high-elevation Uco Valley, is encouraging experimentation with new grape varieties, such as Rhône-style blends based on Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.

The character of local terroirs and individual vintages is being given increasing weight, too; good vintages such as 2018, 2019 and 2021 have seen quality elevated to new heights.

Greater finesse

The line-up of premium South American red blends from which I made this selection included some truly world-class wines. Perhaps the most revealing aspect of the tasting was an evident stylistic shift towards greater finesse – these will always be wines of body and opulence, but they are increasingly elegant and vibrant, too.

And although these are wines built to last another decade – or longer – in the cellar, you’ll find that many are drinking beautifully already.

It’s no surprise that many of these wines are earning recognition in prestigious markets, including La Place de Bordeaux (since the 17th century used as a central distribution network for Bordeaux wines, but which in recent years has developed into a platform to sell elite wines from around the world).

Cheval des Andes became the first Argentinian wine to be sold through La Place in 2003.

Premium red blends have played the role of understudy in South America for decades, but they are steadily now moving into the spotlight – it’s time to take a fresh look.

Notes and scores for 18 top South American red blends

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No matter how carefully you study a region, sometimes it’s luck, spontaneity or serendipity that leads you to the most exciting discoveries. I was reminded of this during my last visit to Côte-Rôtie.

Les Epicurieux in Ampuis is one of my favourite local places to eat and drink, it’s a wine bar, restaurant and shop all rolled into one. Co-owner Arnaud Boisset always has interesting suggestions, and he brought over a bottle as I was scanning the shelves – a 2022 IGP Collines Rhodaniennes Syrah.

Did I know it? he asked. I didn’t.

Scroll down for notes and scores for 11 Gallet Côte-Rôtie wines

The estate name was Gallet. The word ‘galet‘ in French means ‘stone’ or ‘pebble’, so it’s a common surname, especially in this part of the world. I didn’t recognise the label, so I bought one to try.

I opened it that night. It had the unmistakable smoke and spice of the northern apex of the northern Rhône. Fresh, drinkable and delicious, you couldn’t hope for more from an IGP.

Clearly I needed to taste this domaine’s Côte-Rôtie. Google said the domaine was a 10-minute drive from where I was staying. What luck! I called them and arranged a visit for the next day.

Domaine Gallet

I arrived at Domaine Gallet, high on the plateau above Ampuis, and was greeted by Valérie Gallet. We descended the stone steps underneath her house to taste her wines.

I told her how much I enjoyed her Collines Rhodaniennes Syrah. Did I mean her Vin de France? she asked, and showed me the bottle. No, that’s not it… Then it must have been her Côte-Rôtie, she said, as she only makes two wines. If not, she suggested, perhaps the wine I tasted was from the other Gallet.

That was the moment I realised that I’d made a mistake. I’d come to the wrong estate. Uh-oh.

This is a common occupational hazard in France. In the southern Rhône, you’re told that Usseglio makes great wines – but is it Pierre Usseglio or Raymond Usseglio? In the northern Rhône, if you’re looking for wines from Domaine Chave, make sure you stipulate Yann Chave, Natacha Chave or Jean-Louis Chave, as they are all very different. There are many more examples, and I’ve been caught out before.

As she poured the first wine, a potentially awkward moment arose. I knew nothing about these wines, other than the prices – which were relatively cheap. Suspiciously cheap. What if they were dreadful? I’m not very good at feigning enthusiasm. I nervously held out my glass.

The darkness of the wine was the first thing I spotted – over-extraction or concentration? Fortunately, the latter – surprisingly dense for a Vin de France, and although the tannins were a bit unruly, it had vibrancy and energy. That’s a relief, I thought; this is good.

Moving on to her Côte-Rôtie, there was no distracting new oak on the nose, just the essence of the place – traditional, authentic and herbal, but not weedy, not even in a tricky vintage like 2021. The 2022 was richer, more saline, more peppery. I had fallen on my feet.

Valérie says that she’s in charge of winemaking and cellar work, while her brother works the vines – 4ha of 50-year-old vines in the enviable lieux-dits Chavaroche, Lancement and Le Combard.

It turns out that Domaine Gallet was founded in 1807 and has been bottling for 40 years, she says they are the ‘original’ Gallet. I hadn’t come across them before as they don’t export to the UK – a situation that might soon change.

The other Gallet family are distant cousins and had just started bottling, which is why they barely featured online. But I was determined to track them down…

Famille Gallet

A closer look at the empty bottle of IGP Syrah that I bought from Les Epicurieux revealed the name Frédéric Gallet. A bit of online research suggested a phone number; I organised a visit the following day.

The story here is very different. Frédéric Gallet grew up in Ampuis, and as a young man he played a lot of sport. He was about to join the army, but in 1996 a serious skiing accident dashed his dreams.

During school holidays he used to work in the vines at nearby Domaine Stéphane Ogier, so with no other employment prospects he decided to get a job in a winery. Ogier only made reds at that time, and Gallet wanted to make whites too – so, despite having no wine qualifications or training, Gallet wrote to Yves Cuilleron in search of a job.

Cuilleron had no vacancies, so passed on Gallet’s letter to François Villard. Villard hired Gallet in 1998 – his first ever employee.

‘I learnt on the job,’ says Gallet. ‘I learnt a lot with François, particularly in the cellar – he’s a great taster… I have to thank François for that.’

Eventually, Gallet worked his way up to vineyard manager, then cellar manager – positions he later held at Domaine Stéphane Ogier too. During that time, he bought vineyards himself, and also rented some from his father-in-law. He sold the grapes to Villard, Ogier, E Guigal and Domaine Graeme & Julie Bott.

If you’ve tried François Villard’s Côte-Rôtie Le Gallet Blanc, then you might have unknowingly already tasted Frédéric Gallet’s work. This cuvée is made from grapes that Villard purchased from Gallet – hence the name. For a while, as cellar manager, Gallet not only supplied the grapes but he also made the wine!

So in striking out alone, ‘I’m not risking anything,’ says Gallet, ‘because I already know it’s good.’

To begin with, Gallet is only bottling 1ha of the 4.5ha he farms, amounting to 6,000 bottles. In addition to his IGP Syrah, he also makes an IGP Viognier and two Côte-Rôties – a blend called Trio de Brunes and a single-vineyard wine.

He has three parcels in Côte-Rôtie: Côte Bodin, La Brocade and Fongeant. For his first vintage (2022) he bottled a pure Côte Bodin; in 2023, it might be La Brocade.

Two with one stone

I was lucky enough to be the first person to taste his 2023s. I can confirm his La Brocade promises to be very special indeed – likely to be up there with the best of the appellation – so I do hope he bottles it separately. But with only 500 bottles produced, you’ll have to visit Ampuis to get your hands on one.

Gallet is in his 50s, and is planning on retiring soon; a life on these slopes is physically demanding. But in time, his 20-year-old son Maxence Gallet plans to take over.

I’m told another cousin, Damien Gallet, is planning to start his own domaine. So that will be a third Gallet making wine in Ampuis.

In the end, I got two excellent Gallets for the price of one.

The moral of the story? Leave no stone unturned.

11 Gallet wines to explore:

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Tall and slim, with bright, expressive eyes, Julien Barge has something of the mad scientist about him. His family has lived in the same street in Ampuis for 200 years, but the impression of permanence this offers is illusory. This is a Côte-Rôtie estate in constant evolution.

Julien took over from his father Gilles in 2019, and immediately made significant modifications to the way the estate worked. After converting the estate to organic viticulture in 2018 – still relatively uncommon in Côte-Rôtie – Julien decided to address the rising alcohol levels brought on by a warming climate.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for 15 Domaine Barge wines

A novel method

His method is simple but effective – it’s basically a late green harvest.

Green harvesting is when a winemaker cuts off and discards a proportion of the baby bunches from his vines before they’ve fully ripened, around the time they change colour from green to purple. The aim is to concentrate ripening in the bunches that remain.

Yet what Julien has been doing for the past few vintages is slightly different; he waits longer, until just four weeks before picking, to perform a green harvest. Sugars build up as normal during ripening and are shared between bunches.

Some of the partly-ripened bunches are then snipped off and discarded – thereby disposing of some of the sugars that would have ended up in the juice.

In the last four weeks before picking, Julien says that grapes generate sugars more slowly, so when he finally picks the grapes, they have lower potential alcohol – around 12%.

He first tried this method with the 2021 vintage, and since then, ‘it’s become a vision,’ says Julien, ‘something we’re confident in’.

Getting technical – an updated process in the cellar

Barge has made some complementary changes in the cellar to accommodate this new approach. Before 2021, his wines were made using whole bunches, but he’s had to reduce the number of stems he uses to find a new balance, and now uses around 50%.

His ferments are much shorter than they once were, now just 12-18 days. He no longer opts for a cold maceration before fermentation; ‘it’s not interesting, because there’s no life activity,’ he says – in other words, no living organisms like yeast working on the juice.

He ferments with a submerged cap, and doesn’t use temperature control. Then he ages the wines in small foudres – made by the highly-respected Stockinger cooperage – for two years.

An original style

The lower alcohol levels aren’t the only way in which the wines have changed – there is a marked stylistic change here between the richer, riper wines of 2020 and before, and the finer, more delicate Côte-Rôties of 2021 and after.

Though delicious expressions of Côte-Rôtie, the alcohol is perceptible in his 2019 and 2020 Les Côtes. They are rich, velvety and potent.

From 2021 onwards, they are more fragrant, displaying an abundance of herbs and flowers. They are noticeably lighter in alcohol – and therefore body – with stricter acidity and less fruit sweetness.

Julien has stepped back from the increasingly ripe, powerful Côte-Rôties that have proliferated since 2015 – and you really feel the difference. ‘It’s a risk,’ he says. ‘When I believe in something, I just do it.’

These taste like Côte-Rôties from an earlier era; savoury and ethereal, somewhere between Burgundy’s Morey-St-Denis and Côte-Rôtie. When matching with food, it might be better to think about what works with Pinot Noir rather than Syrah.

History of invention

Julien isn’t the first Barge to affect change in Côte-Rôtie. One of his forefathers, Pierre Barge, was one of the founding members of the popular Marché aux Vins d’Ampuis wine fair that still runs today.

The family first started bottling its wines as far back as 1929. His father Gilles even installed a mini rack railway in one of their steeper vineyards to help bring the grapes in at harvest.

So it’s no surprise to see this estate continuing to evolve and innovate in the face of climate change.

This new direction has produced elegant and complex wines, but with less concentration, alcohol and richness. These are all elements that can help sustain a wine over time. So some uncertainty remains over the longevity of these new wines.

Julien’s Les Côtes 2021 is particularly lean – but it was a difficult, frosted vintage for everyone. In Les Côtes 2022, the technique feels more mastered. As alcohol levels continue to rise in the region, the eyes of an appellation will be watching to see where this experiment takes him.

Domaine Barge wines to try

Wines are listed by vintage youngest to oldest

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What exactly is an Ardèche wine? It turns out it can be many things.

The Ardèche is a département (one of France’s 96 administrative regions) located in the Rhône that extends northwards to the top of St-Joseph and the more southerly villages of Condrieu. Cornas and St-Péray, too, are Ardèche wines.

So it might be wine from the granitic north. Or it might be wine that hails from the calcareous south, as the département encapsulates some of the southern Rhône too. Most of the vast IGP Ardèche is limestone mountains, the landscape frequently gouged by deep river gorges cut jaggedly like a knife through sourdough bread, with vineyards nestled in the valleys.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for 10 unmissable Saint-Andéol wines

Villages in this area are often remote, ancient, surrounded by woods. Local people are described as independent, rebellious, even. Their wines can be too; the Ardèche is home to some excellent natural winemakers such as Andrea Calek, Château de la Selve and Mas d’Intras.

Saint-Andéol is the only one of the 22 named villages of the Côtes du Rhône located in the Ardèche. The appellation (its full name Côtes du Rhône Villages Saint-Andéol) is made up of four villages at the southernmost tip of the département, where the Ardèche river meets the Rhône itself.

So which kind of Ardèche wine is Saint-Andéol? It’s something different again: one-part calcareous south to nine-parts Rhône pebbles, with a dash of revolutionary zeal.

If you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone. The appellation was only granted seven years ago and there are just 11 producers bottling their wines under this designation.

So is it even worth knowing about? Well, it’s home to two of the most exciting estates in the southern Rhône, and most domaines here make satisfying wines that offer great value. So… yes, it is.

The Ardèche Provençale

Gradually descending from the mountainous heart of the Ardèche, you can feel a change as you approach the villages that make up the Saint-Andéol appellation: Bourg-Saint-Andéol, Saint-Just, Saint-Marcel-d’Ardèche and Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche.

The woodland becomes less dense and more diverse, and the colour palette livens up – the blue-green trees and dirty-white rocks give way to ochre buildings, bone-coloured stones and lavender.

The terrain becomes a little flatter, it lies lower, and feels agreeably sunbaked. This is the Ardèche Provençale.

Vineyards here are mostly galets roulés, the same Rhône-dredged deposits that you can find in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac, Tavel and beyond. Rather than lying in flat plains, here they form hills and banks that can reach up to 180m above sea level.

Galets roulés usually signify power and potency, and while these wines are always generous, they also have juice and fluidity – you wouldn’t confuse them with a hearty Châteauneuf. Its northerly location and relatively cool nights make for a fresher, spicier take on Grenache and Syrah.

Local excellence

There are two names that deserve particular attention: Domaine Saladin and Mas de Libian.

Domaine Saladin is owned by sisters Marie-Laurence and Elisabeth Saladin, the 21st generation to run the family farm established over 600 years ago, in 1422. They claim that no chemical products have ever been used on their soils, and they don’t use any additives in their wines apart from sulphites.

The reds here are particularly pure and limpid, often produced using semi-carbonic maceration. Whites are just as good; rich, ample and food-friendly.

Should Mas de Libian (who I’ve written about here) be included in this article? Perhaps not; it doesn’t bottle its wines under the Saint-Andéol appellation after all.

But owner Hélène Thibon could if she wanted to, and has done so in the past. Like Saladin, she is based in Saint-Marcel-d’Ardèche. She refuses the appellation due to ideological differences with the local authorities, and bottles her production under the generic Côtes du Rhône appellation instead. The defiant Ardèche spirit is alive and well.

Whatever the appellation on the label, Mas de Libian’s wines exemplify the freshness and purity of this corner of the Ardèche.

These two estates might not belong to a famous cru, but both belong in the top tier of southern Rhône estates. And there are several other estates making excellent wine here.

The Ardèche is huge and diverse, but this little corner certainly deserves an appellation all of its own.

10 Saint-Andéol wines to try:

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A common charge levelled against the French wine industry is its restrictive appellation legislation. Though drawn up with good intentions, it can indeed cramp winemakers’ creativity.

How freeing it must be therefore to make wine in countries like Australia, unhindered by such bureaucracy. But the local market can also have a constraining influence on wine styles – many drinkers have specific notions about exactly what they want from established classics such as Barossa Shiraz.

Scroll down for 20 scintillating red Rhône varieties from Australia

When it comes to lesser-known varieties, there is more space to experiment. ‘People are much more inclined to play around in the cellar with Grenache than Shiraz,’ says Jack Scholz of The Willows Vineyard in the Barossa Valley, which is why there’s been such a dramatic evolution in the style of this Southern Rhône staple over the past 10 years.

Not just in Barossa, but throughout South Australia and beyond.

Given their suitability to hot climates, it’s puzzling that other red Rhône varieties never took off like Shiraz. But now that does seem to be happening – mainly Grenache at the moment, but there’s also growing interest in Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Carignan.

The Barossa Grenache renaissance

Until recently, much Australian Grenache resembled an alcoholic fruit soup. But there’s a burgeoning contemporary expression that makes this variety the most exciting in the country. If you haven’t tried any for a while, this is the time to revisit it.

So what’s changed? ‘I got sick of drinking those bigger, heavier wines’ says Jason Schwarz of the Schwarz Wine Co, who made his first Grenache in 2002. Back then, he would pick very ripe, when the grapes were starting to shrivel. He’d destem the crop and age the wine for two years in 300-litre barrels.

Today, his Meta Grenache uses 80% whole bunch to bring brightness, freshness and ‘perceived acidity’, he says. He picks around two weeks earlier now, and the winemaking is gentler, using indigenous yeasts.

Instead of seven days maceration, he opts for three to four weeks and he uses larger format barrels, bottling after 10 months to capture the grape’s natural perfume. The result is balanced, drinkable and delicious.

Barossa Valley is home to the oldest Grenache vines in the world, dating back to the 1840s. Though planted a little all over the region, there’s an outcrop of sand from Light Pass to Vine Vale on the border with the Eden Valley that’s become a hotspot for this new style, including The Willows, Schwarz Wine Co, Vinya Vella, Spinifex, Ollin and Cirillo.

Elsewhere in Barossa, this modern version is favoured by Alkina, Geyer Wine Co, Yelland & Papps and Tscharke. For a fuller, more generous style, look to Charles Melton, Hayes Family Wines, John Duval, Tim Smith and Turkey Flat.

The grand cru of McLaren Vale

McLaren Vale is closer to the sea than Barossa and it’s not quite as hot. There are some extraordinary Grenache-based wines being produced here too, in a perfumed, red-fruited, slightly lighter style.

Blewitt Springs in the north-east of the region needs to be on your radar. It’s the source of some of the greatest Grenaches in the country. Yangarra’s High Sands for example is sourced from this Australian grand cru.

Walking here feels like crossing a beach dune, and although it’s just 15km from the sea, these soils don’t have a marine origin – it’s wind-blown loess over ironstone.

Yangarra’s winemaker Peter Fraser says that Grenache was originally planted here for its drought tolerance. He adds that few other crops would successfully grow in these sandy soils, which means that today there’s a proliferation of very old vines.

He describes the wines from this particular site as giving red and blue rather than black fruit flavours, and a brighter, more aromatic style.

Look out for McLaren Vale Grenaches by Bekkers, Aphelion, d’Arenberg, Ministry of Clouds, SC Pannell, Thistledown, MMAD, Bondar, Samson Tall, Brash Higgins, Gentle Folk, Sherrah and Varney Wines.

New varieties, further afield

Though more famous for its Riesling, Clare Valley is another South Australian region with some gnarly old Grenache. Thanks to the big difference between the hot days and cool nights here, the wines have an elegance and spicy/fragrant allure.

Sam Barry of Jim Barry Wines says that historically Grenache was always the cheapest variety to buy from growers. ‘It used to have that stigma of being a variety for fortified wine,’ he explains. Now it’s the most expensive.

He’s just bought two old vineyards in Clare, one dating to 1938, the other to 1954. Both have a spicy note akin to paprika or Szechuan pepper, and first vintages are highly promising.

Kilikanoon is another believer in Rhône varieties in Clare Valley. It makes Grenache, Shiraz and some excellent Mourvèdre, sometimes known locally as Mataro. The style in South Australia is different to Bandol or Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

It tends to be less dark and gruff than the French style, more polished and filigree. Sussex Squire is another good producer in Clare. In Barossa, try Mourvèdre from Hayes Family Wines, Hewitson or Soul Growers; in McLaren Vale, there’s Rudderless, Kay Brothers and Chalk Hill.

It’s still early days for other red Rhône varieties in Australia, but Brad Hickey of Brash Higgins proves they have potential.

‘Rhône varieties have become really interesting players,’ he says. ‘We’ve had huge amounts of luck with Cinsault, Carignan and Mourvèdre.’

His pure Cinsault cuvée Cins is reminiscent of cult west bank Southern Rhônes such as Domaine L’Anglore.

Back to blends

Belinda van Eyssen (below) is winemaker for The Cutting in Barossa, but she previously lived and worked in South Africa. She also makes an excellent Cinsault, but she points out that although Australia might be making very good varietal wines from Rhône grapes, ‘blends haven’t really made it here’.

The GSM – a blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre – was popular for a while, but now it’s not quite as fashionable. One benefit of blends is that they put the spotlight on place rather than the flavour profile of a specific grape.

It was partly blends that led to South Africa’s recent wine renaissance. Will the same thing happen in Australia?

It comes back to the local market – if Australian wine lovers are turned off by blends, then they’ll never succeed. That hasn’t stopped Adelina in Clare Valley though, which has won praise for its Estate Introspect, a field blend of Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Ugni Blanc, Roussanne and Carignan.

As local winemakers master these characterful grapes, I hope they are inspired to blend them as well as bottling varietal wines. Whatever your favourite grape variety, it’s always good to find creativity and originality in your glass.

Top 20 Australian wines made from red Rhône varieties

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If you like your food hot and spicy, does that mean you have to miss out on a wine to enjoy with it? Not necessarily… Although spice is one of the trickier food-matching challenges, there are plenty of wine styles that can work well with the heat and complex flavours of spicy dishes.

There is a key choice to make before you start. Do you want to amplify the heat or tame it?

Chilli thrill-seekers could meet the heat head-on with what experienced sommelier Matthieu Longuère MS, wine development manager at Le Cordon Bleu London, describes as a ‘spice booster’ wine.

If you’re less excited by the Scoville heat scale, you’ll want a wine that mellows out the dish – without compromising the flavours of course. Off-dry white wines are a good option here, because their slight sweetness can help to reduce the heat.

Spice boosters

Bold and fruity reds – such as Syrah/Shiraz or Grenache/Garnacha, which have spicy notes on the palate – are a good option if you want to ramp up the spice in a dish. Look for examples that have plenty of fruit rather than high tannins, as too much tannin is the worst enemy of spice.

Winemaking regions in the warmer southern hemisphere are a good place to find fruitier styles of spicy red wines. Think South America’s signature red grapes, Malbec and Carmenère or Pinotage from South Africa. Brambly, spicy Zinfandel from the US is another red that can work well with spicy dishes such as chilli con carne.

Andrés Rangel, former sommelier at top Indian restaurant Gymkhana in London, suggests that it can be fun to think about matching spicy wines to specific spicy aromas and flavours in a dish. ‘Some of the herbs and spices used [in Indian cooking], such as cardamom, ginger, pepper, clove and coriander, are present in the flavour and aromatic profile of wine,’ he explains.

Cool customers

If you want to contain the heat of a spicy dish rather than amplify it, Rangel recommends off-dry aromatic white wines as ‘safe’ options. This means grape varieties such as Gewürztraminer, Viognier, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Riesling. While Alsace is a good place to start hunting, these varieties can be found all over the wine world. Argentina’s signtaure aromatic white grapes Torrontés, with its peachy fruit is another variety to look out for.

‘For me, off-dry wines only work if there is also an element of sweetness in the spicy food,’ says Anne Krebiehl MW, widely published wine writer and author of The Wines of Germany. ‘For example, there’s usually palm sugar in Thai dishes along with lemongrass and mild chilli heat. Here, an off-dry, light-bodied Riesling – but not sweet – would be perfect, just to echo that nuance of sweetness.’

She adds: ‘Look out for the term “feinherb” (off-dry) on the label and aim for anywhere between 11-13% abv.’

Rosé and orange wines

Food and wine matching expert and Decanter contributing editor, Fiona Beckett, thinks fuller-bodied rosés stand up well to spice. ‘Rosés from the New World tend to be riper and sweeter than their European counterparts, and this is not necessarily an off-putting quality when they are paired with spicy food,’ she explains.

Italy’s Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is another deeper rosé style that can pair brilliantly with some spicy dishes. Or seek out dark pink Spanish rosados made from Garnacha, a grape that’s naturally low in tannins. These punchy rosés will work particularly well with Caribbean jerk seasoning.

Both rosé and food-friendly orange wines are a good choice for Eastern Mediterranean and North African dishes, featuring spices such as sumac, harissa and ras el hanout. A lamb tagine or spicy aubergine would also pair well with lighter reds such as Beaujolais, which can be served chilled.

Sparkling success

Finally, don’t forget fizz. For Rangel sparkling wines with a creamy mousse are a reliable choice with spicy food – especially if you’re looking to reduce the heat. He advises thinking about the texture of the dish. Is it a creamy curry or a dry-spiced deep-fried snack?

‘The most effective way to match wine and spicy food is balancing weight by weight, and contrasting flavours,’ says Rangel. ‘For example, in Indian food, we find rich and fatty dishes, made with cream or yoghurt. So we need wines with enough body to support those dishes and at the same time ripe fruit flavours to create a pleasant contrast with the spices.’

Krebiehl adds that sparkling wines can work particularly well with seafood dishes that carry just hint of heat. ‘I love to drink fizz and find that a rather creamy and really mature Champagne goes well with chilli-accented dishes; like soft-shell crab or squid fried in a cayenne-spiced batter,’ she says.

It’s not just about whites either; sparkling reds can also work with certain spicy dishes. ‘I am a big fan of Chinese five spice, with its warm redolence of clove and cinnamon. Rounder, gutsier Pinot Noirs that border on plummy fruitiness work well here, but so does sparkling Shiraz,’ adds Krebiehl

Top five wine styles for spicy food 

• Off-dry Riesling 
• Off-dry Pinot Gris
• Full-bodied rosés
• Syrah/Shiraz 
• Grenache

Wines to pair with spicy food: 12 to try

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During the first half of the 20th century, fortified wines dominated Australian wine production. They accounted for 86% of total global sales in 1950, versus just 2% of global sales today.

Production may now be tiny but, drawing on precious heritage stock, the faithful few who still make fortifieds can produce wines of unrivalled intensity and complexity.

Among their number is Penfolds. The full-bodied rancio house style of its Rare Tawny fortified wines reflects the older-than-average legal minimum age (see box below) of the blending material within Penfolds’ solera system.

Notes and scores for four old and rare tawnies below

A Tawny tradition

When Dr Christopher Penfold and his wife Mary Penfold founded the eponymous brand in 1844, they embraced fortified winemaking. Mary, a self-taught master blender, evidently had a fine touch.

Penfolds won a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exhibition for a ‘Tawny Port’. By the end of World War I, the company was Australia’s leading producer of ‘Port’ and ‘Sherry’.*

During this period, Alf Vesey (who had worked under Mary) set aside the 1915 vintage, which is believed to have been the foundation of Penfolds’ first cask of Grandfather Rare Tawny some 50 years later.

According to Penfolds’ current fortified winemaker Matt Woo, this private barrel was originally reserved for family, friends and special guests. That is until, in 1965, Penfolds launched its first commercial release of Grandfather Rare Tawny, which has a minimum average blended age of 20 years.

Heritage stock

The Penfolds tawny family has since grown and is based on fruit from the warm, dry climes of the Barossa Valley, as well as the Riverland for younger tawnies.

Great Grandfather Rare Tawny (which has a minimum average blended age of 30 years) was added to the portfolio in 1994.

Two decades later, the premium range was topped and tailed with the addition of Penfolds’ flagship 50 Year Old Rare Tawny and Father Grand Tawny (which has a minimum average blended age of 10 years).

Together with James Godfrey, Penfolds’ veteran fortified winemaker, Woo helped to create the 50 Year Old Rare Tawny.

He recalls: ‘We had very old rare wines tucked away and were wondering what to do with them. We could have bottled them as single-vintage colheitas, but then they would be gone forever. Instead we engineered a solera system to create a blend with an average age of 50 years.’

Solera ageing

‘Having done all the sums, checking the numbers many times,’ says Woo, they devised a solera (fractional blending) system. This allows Penfolds to draw off enough wine to fill 330 (hand-blown) bottles at a time, while maintaining a minimum average blended age of 50 years.

Thrillingly, the solera included a 2.5-litre glass flagon of the 1915 tawny alongside the 1940 and 1945 vintages, the first two commercial releases of Grandfather (1965 and 1969) and the first Great Grandfather release from 1994.

The use of a solera system is a key point of difference between the three Penfolds Rare Tawnies and tawny Ports from Portugal. The latter – like the Penfolds Father Grand Tawny – rely exclusively on master blenders to create blends from individually matured barrels.

The base wines for Father Grand Tawny are matured as individual vintage and varietal components in seasoned oak hogsheads, before blending.

Base wines for Grandfather Rare Tawny are matured separately for the first 14 years. After that, a barrel selection is blended and becomes the topping wine for the first stage of the ‘Grandfather solera’. Composed of six progressively older stages, the final sixth stage produces a tawny for bottling with a minimum average blended age of 20 years.

Great Grandfather Rare Tawny is drawn from stage six of the ‘Grandfather solera’ and selected exceptional batches of maturing Grandfather Tawny. These components are further aged, then blended and introduced into the ‘Great Grandfather Solera’ for bottling with a minimum average blended age of 30 years.

Uniquely Australian

Varietal composition and maturation in much warmer, drier conditions also differentiates Penfolds’ tawnies from tawny Port.

‘The backbone is Shiraz, for richness, weight, depth of flavour and full-bodied characters. Mataro (aka Mourvèdre) gives savouriness and, because it ages more rapidly, carries lovely wood-aged rancio characters,’ explains Woo.

Grenache, another key player, brings ‘aromatics, juiciness and wonderful brightness.’ Warm-climate (Barossa or Riverland) Cabernet Sauvignon is rich and plummy, not herbaceous, he emphasises.

Bit players include Portugal’s Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão and traditional varieties, including the white grape Muscadelle which, says Woo, ‘was used as a natural acid adjuster.’

He emphasises that, contrary to popular belief, they don’t pick super-raisined grapes. Instead they ‘let the tawny maturation process give those wonderful characters.’

The goal ‘is a brighter fruit spectrum and not vast amounts of tannin; we’re looking for balance,’ says Woo. Once the fruit is in barrel, solera barrels are worked annually.

‘A little bit of air movement just keeps them alive. And looking after your barrels is important, because you don’t want that stale oak coming through,’ explains Woo.

Inside the barrel is where the magic happens. The Barossa’s warm, dry climate drives the rate of evaporation, accelerating concentration and maturation, as does maturing the tawnies in small seasoned 300-litre barrels (filled to 280 litres) under a corrugated metal roof. It is torrid in summer when the top stack of solera barrels can reach 55℃; in winter, the temperature can plummet to less than 8℃.

Because this evaporation, the so-called ‘angel’s share,’ also increases alcohol, sugars and acidity, ‘the wines grow into themselves a little bit more with time in barrel,’ says Woo. ‘There are a lot of very happy angels,’ he quips, reflecting on the process that underwrites Penfolds’ signature rancio flavours and smooth texture.

Heavenly spirit

Rancio characters typically develop after a decade in barrel. With an average minimum age of 10 years, Father Grand’s elegant charm lies in its relatively plush, fleshier palate.

As one might expect, Penfolds’ intensely concentrated Rare Tawnies are darker and richer, with higher residual sugar (around 220g/l versus Father Grand’s 160g/l).

They are satisfying without being heavy, and finish savoury and long. This is attributable to their markedly nutty, woody rancio flavours and impressive backbone of acidity and spirit.

For Woo, the potent yet beautifully integrated, unaged spirit is another hallmark of the Penfolds house style.

‘We’re looking for a bit more purity than Port, with wonderful leather and aniseed flavours and a bit of creaminess and richness to help marry into the fruit right from start,’ he says.

Like tawny Port, Penfolds’ tawnies are made to drink on release. After all, Penfolds has done the ageing for you and the angels have already taken their share.

This is particularly judicious in the case of Penfolds 50 Year Old Rare Tawny which, although drawing on the oldest blending material, is exquisitely balanced for such a charismatic, intense fortified wine.

Australian fortified wine classification system

Australian tawny* – less than 5 years in age

Classic tawny – 5-10 years in age

Grand tawny – 10-15 years in age

Rare tawny – 15+ years in age

*Since 2011, Australian fortifieds cannot be labelled ‘Sherry’ or ‘Port’; tawny styles are simply badged ‘Tawny.’

Penfolds Rare Tawny wines: tasting notes

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However you spell or pronounce them, Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape variety – but often made in distinct wine styles. Our definitive guide explains what they are, which regions produce the most iconic bottlings, and recommends 18 must-try examples to seek out.

South Australia and South Africa, Rhône and The Rocks AVA in Walla Walla Valley: one red grape rules supreme.

Whether labelled Syrah or Shiraz, the wine inside the bottle is from the same grape. The styles, however, may be quite different.

Syrah and Shiraz: the different styles

France’s Northern Rhône is the spiritual home of Syrah, from Côte-Rôtie through St-Joseph, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and down to Cornas.

As a general rule, wines from elsewhere in the world labelled as Syrah will follow this Northern Rhône style. Think fine-grained tannins, higher acidity and a lean fruit profile with moderate body and alcohol. And, if matured in oak, that oak will be French.

South Australia, meanwhile – particularly in the Barossa and McLaren Vale – is the home of Shiraz, which was how the Syrah grape became known Down Under.

Many countries use the Shiraz name for wines that share that traditional Aussie style. This is generally richer and ripe-fruited, and fuller in both body and alcohol. Maturation is often in American oak.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 18 great examples of Syrah and Shiraz wines around the world

These distinct styles first emerged as a natural consequence of the different growing conditions and climates (ie, the grapes in South Australia getting more baked from the sun and reaching higher potential alcohol than their Rhône counterparts). But winemaking decisions also influence the style of wine.

This is why producers in South Australia and beyond – particularly South America, South Africa, the US, Canada and even southern France – might choose to call a wine Syrah or Shiraz to easily denote its style.

Whatever the style, this grape can produce wines of great elegance that age beautifully. Some of its distinct characteristics are intense black fruit, savoury tapenade and distinct pepper spice, and medium to high tannins. There are often herbal liquorice notes as well as a violet lift.

Syrah/Shiraz is shown to contain more of a compound called rotundone, responsible for peppery aromas in wine.

The grape’s birthplace

The origins of Syrah were once a matter of much debate, many speculating it might hail from Syracuse in Sicily, ancient Persia (the city of Shiraz in ancient Persia, modern-day Iran, being the reason for its Australian name) or descend from an ancient Rhône variety known to produce fine wine in Roman times.

But in 1998 DNA profiling confirmed the variety’s parents as the white grape Mondeuse Blanche and the black-skinned Dureza. These rare varieties are local to the Rhône-Alpes region of France.

Studies also show that, with great probability, Pinot Noir is a great-grandparent of Syrah, and both Viognier and Mondeuse Noire seem to be closely related to Syrah, too.

Some northern Rhône growers distinguish between a small-berried, more concentrated version of Syrah, which they call Petite Syrah, and the larger-berried Grosse Syrah. Most ampelographers reject this distinction.

Petite Sirah (spelled with an i, not a y), on the other hand, is a crossing of Syrah with the obscure Rhône-Alpes grape Peloursin and popular in California for its robust, tannic, earthy nature. Petite Sirah is also known as Durif, notably in Australia.

France – home of Syrah

Until the 1970s, French Syrah plantings were mostly concentrated in and around the vineyards of the Rhône Valley. Since then, however, Syrah has had an extraordinary surge in popularity throughout southern France, particularly in Languedoc-Roussillon, and it now is the country’s third most planted red wine.

Syrah is the queen grape of the Northern Rhône where it makes the muscular, deep-coloured, ageworthy, savoury and peppery wines of Hermitage. In Côte-Rôtie it makes more perfumed, slightly floral and refined wines, namely when co-fermented with a small percentage of Viognier.

Crozes-Hermitage, St-Joseph and Cornas are other appellations worth looking at, offering earlier drinking and great-value examples.

While Grenache is usually the key grape in Southern Rhône reds, Syrah also plays a key part, particularly in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Australia – home of Shiraz

In 1832, James Busby, the ‘father of Australian viticulture’ took cuttings of Syrah (then called Scyras) to Australia from Montpelier. It flourished in the new colony of New South Wales and from there across the whole country. Shiraz eventually became Australia’s most planted variety.

Langmeil, in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, has the world’s oldest surviving Shiraz vines, planted in 1843.

Of all Australia’s Shiraz wines, the most renowned might be the traditionally rich, intense, ripe wines from the Barossa.

The Barossa (comprising the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley) is considered by many to be the ‘spiritual home’ of Australian Shiraz, much due to the iconic status of several historic producers including Penfolds, Henschke and Yalumba.

An Eden Valley Syrah won a Best in Show gong for the grape at the 2024 Decanter World Wine Awards.

McLaren Vale, especially old-vine pockets in Blewitt Springs, as well as up in the cool Adelaide Hills are also known for their elegant Syrah styles.

Syrah/Shiraz as an international variety

Syrah/Shiraz is the sixth most planted grape in the world.

It was enthusiastically planted in California in the 1990s by the so-called Rhône Rangers, a group of winemakers determined to demonstrate that it may be even better suited to California than Cabernet Sauvignon. Today there are myriad styles from blockbuster examples from Paso Robles to ethereal elegance from Santa Barbara and Sonoma.

Elsewhere in America, Washington State also produces fine, bright examples, notably from the Walla Walla Valley, and its unique AVA of The Rocks of Milton Freewater which straddles Washington and Oregon.

Syrah is arguably South Africa’s most exciting grape, having risen to star status over the past 15 years thanks mainly to dynamic producers in the Swartland region. Now there are world-class Syrah and Shiraz styles throughout the Cape winelands.

In New Zealand, Central Otago, Waiheke Island and Hawke’s Bay, particularly its pocket of Gimblett Gravels, are the home of the country’s top Syrahs. Even though the variety represents just 1% of plantings, the quality is exceptional and worth seeking out.

While Argentina has more planted, Chile is South America’s Syrah star, thanks to high-altitude and/or cool-climate coastal vineyards. The wines represent excellent value too.

Italy, Spain (mostly in Castilla-La Mancha) and Portugal (Alentejo) make some notable Syrahs. And there are fine examples as far afield as Israel, Greece, Mexico and China.

Syrah/Shiraz: 18 great examples from around the world

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Established in 1983, Paso Robles, meaning ‘pass of the oaks’ in Spanish, is a Californian region with 16,500 hectares under vine.

Ten years ago, 11 sub-American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) within the greater Paso Robles AVA were approved for use on labels. Conjunctive labelling laws, which have seen success in Napa Valley, require ‘Paso Robles’ to be used on a label whenever a sub-AVA is also listed.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of top wines from Willow Creek.

The western Paso regions, including Willow Creek District, seem to run ahead of the pack, with many quality producers residing there. These areas can be slightly cooler, wetter, and windier than their eastern neighbours, and they can see marine fog from the coastal influences.

The wines from these areas tend to show higher acidity, a key piece of the quality puzzle in Paso to balance the fruit concentration, tannins and alcohol levels that can result from the high temperatures. Notable Willow Creek vineyards include James Berry, G2, L’Aventure, and Paper Street.

Vineyards in Paso Robles’ windy west

Just south and a bit east of the larger Adelaida District lies the Willow Creek District, a higher rainfall, high elevation sub-district with similar properties.

However, the tiny Willow Creek District, located approximately 40km from the ocean, more directly benefits from the Templeton Gap effect. Here, openings in the coastal Santa Lucia Mountain range allow cooler coastal air to rush, funnel-like, into the valley.

This cooling effect allows for wide diurnal ranges with warmer days and much cooler evenings, allowing the grapes to rest and refresh.

Kunal Mittal, co-founder at LXV Wine, spoke about the importance of the Templeton Gap to their quality grapes.

‘It is handy in hot years such as 2022 when the grapes need to refresh during heat spikes,’ he says. ‘It also helps to prevent frost damage, as the wind (from the Templeton Gap) blows the cool air away and prevents that cooler air from setting.’

The Mittals farm just over 3ha of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and Sangiovese at their Armaa.N estate vineyard and also source grapes from other Willow Creek sites such as the G2 North and Gateway Vineyards.

The Willow Creek District is defined by varied topography and rolling hills, with little flat land. Hillsides with thin topsoils mean roots dive deep into the vineyards’ bedrock.

‘These aspect changes in Willow Creek give more interesting and character-driven wines,’ says Carl Bowker, owner and founding winemaker at Caliza Winery.

The Paso Robles AVA as a whole has over 30 soil types. Willow Creek features high-elevation mountainous bedrock derived from marine sedimentary rocks, calcareous shale, and limestone.

Bowker speaks of his estate vineyard’s soil: ‘You can tell it was underwater. You see ancient seashells and feel the chalky and mineral character of the soil.’

‘Caliza‘, which means ‘limestone’ in Spanish, refers to this high limestone content in the soils around the estate.

Bowker thinks that: ‘The high limestone content allows us to make fresh wines. Wines that hold onto the acidity and give mineral characteristics.’

This, he adds, was particularly advantageous in the hot 2022 vintage.

Willow Creek meets climate change

Like many California regions, Willow Creek is seeing hotter and more extreme weather conditions. Edgar Torres, founder and winemaker at Bodega de Edgar, sources 90% of his grapes from the Dusi family, one of the legacy families in Paso Robles, with most of the fruit from their Paper Street Vineyard.

‘They used to be focused on dry farming, but now drip irrigation is sometimes used, partially to navigate the heat waves,’ says Torres.

Bowker shares that because of extreme heat, he and his team have had to adjust their canopy management techniques on the 11ha Caliza Vineyard to get more shade on the side of the vines which catches the afternoon sun.

‘There is no normal anymore. We rarely see two vintages that are the same,’ says Don Burns, owner and winemaker at Turtle Rock Vineyards, who grew up in Paso Robles and cut his teeth at Justin Smith’s Saxum Vineyards.

He spoke of two recent drought years in 2020 and 2021, juxtaposed with record-breaking rainfall in 2022 and 2023.

Kunal Mittal says: ‘With the inconsistencies and extremes of climate, the Templeton Gap effect is important to us, especially with our focus on Bordeaux varieties, which need a longer hang time.’

Without the cooling effect of the gap and the cool nights it creates, overripe fruit would become an especially acute issue.

The wines of Willow Creek

Though Paso Robles wines can be characterised as full-bodied and rich in style, natural acidity saves them from going too far. Bowker states that, typically, wines are not acidulated in Paso, especially in Willow Creek, where the natural acidity is very high.

‘The wines,’ he says, ‘have a natural acidity and freshness, which comes from the proximity to the ocean and the Templeton Gap effect.’

The natural conditions often means a hallmark of Willow Creek wines is less manipulation in the winery. Burns agrees: ‘We’ve learned how to extract what we want from the grapes and not have to extract everything,’ he says.

‘There is more of a gentle hand in winemaking here in Willow Creek.’

Bowker adds that due to the soils and cool breezes: ‘We can have big, bold, powerful wines that are also light on their feet with brightness and freshness.’

Torres’ marker for Willow Creek fruit is a floral component, plus a chalky medicinal note. He says that he often finds spice notes – such as paprika, cumin, and Tajín, a Mexican chili-lime seasoning – in the Paper Street Grenache.

Burns, who has been involved in making wine in Paso, specifically Willow Creek, for over 15 years, describes, ‘an acid lift and energy in the glass, minerality, and a marked salinity, especially in Syrah coming from the calcareous stone soils.’

Part of the wider whole

Many of Paso Robles’s most premium wines come from the Willow Creek District. The key players in Willow Creek agree that the 11 sub-AVAs created 10 years ago created a much needed separation between higher-quality producers and wines, and the value-priced wines being produced, allowing the former a chance to shine.

At the same time, all recognise that they are contributing to the wider reputation of their parent AVA.

Neeta Mittal says: ‘Even as we divide Paso into AVAs, the underlying theme is community. For this reason, it’s very important to require the labels to include ‘Paso Robles’ along with the sub-AVA.’

Mittal describes a sense of stewardship from those who grow grapes in Willow Creek. This continues in the winery with lower-intervention styles from producers wanting to make high-quality, character-driven wines.

As Paso Robles continues to define its identity within the global wine industry, aspirational producers in sub-appellations like Willow Creek District are going a long way to help lift the profile of Paso Robles as a whole.

Top wines from Willow Creek

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According to Antoine Lespès, research and development manager at Domaine Lafage just outside Perpignan, the average rainfall at this Roussillon estate between 2010 and 2023 was just 550mm per year. These last few years have been particularly dry: in 2021 and 2022 there was 340mm. In 2023, just 240mm – ‘like Marrakesh,’ says Lespès.

Thankfully, Roussillon has a natural defence against drought: 50% of the region’s vines are over 50 years old. Old vines with deep, well-established root systems pump water from below the ground, instead of relying exclusively on that which falls from the sky. And this is just one advantage of having plenty of venerable old plants.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 20 old vine wines to try

Stubborn and resilient

Mas Llossanes is located on the western edge of Roussillon; with vineyards ascending to 700m altitude, it’s one of the highest estates in France. Owner Dominique Génot has some vines aged up to 80 years old, and he says ‘resilience is their number one advantage.’ In drought years, it tends to be older vines that perform the strongest.

He adds that ‘the production is much more stable – the same level of quality and quantity’ from year to year. Old vines are also less likely to suffer from disease as they produce smaller, looser, better ventilated bunches.

Small bunches and little berries make for concentrated wines – a greater proportion of skins to juice means more colour and more tannin. So wines made from old vines can be particularly powerful and long-lived.

The drawback is that gnarly old trunks are expensive to work and maintain, requiring dedicated manual work and attention. ‘Old vines are like stubborn old men,’ says Benoît Danjou, co-owner of Domaine Danjou-Banessy in Espira-de-l’Agly, ‘they give what they want’ and can be difficult to manage.

They also produce smaller yields – meaning either that growers make less income, or that we as consumers have to pay a premium.

Better wine?

If the wines are better, then most of us are happy to pay a little extra. But do older vines really produce better wine? Concentration is not always a positive – particularly if a style of wine is already dense and muscular. A little fluidity and juice can be useful in creating drinkability and balance.

In fact, not all growers favour old vines. Hervé Bizeul of Domaine du Clos des Fées in Vingrau uses relatively young vines for his top cuvée Le Clos de Fées, while his oldest vines (50 to 100 years old) go into his more affordable Vieilles Vignes bottling.

Looking outside the region, one of the greatest winemakers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Henri Bonneau, preferred vines of around 30 years old – when they got much older, he’d pull them out and replant. And Troy van Dulken, vineyard manager at Kilikanoon in Clare Valley, says ‘once a vineyard is at 15 years old, I think it’s at its peak.’

Van Dulken points out that some cultivars age better than others. Syrah and Grenache can live to a ripe old age, whereas he’s more likely to pull out Cabernet Sauvignon at 30 to 40 years old. Carignan is another variety that can age impressively. Domaine du Lendemain in Roussillon has some pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1880 that are still producing fruit.

The taste test

There’s undoubtedly something special about drinking bottles produced from such ancient plants – like drinking very old vintages, there’s a feeling of being closer to history. But can we distinguish between young and old vine cuvées by taste alone?

There’s certainly no identifiable flavour as such. But there is often a sense of depth, resonance and vinosity with wines drawn from old vines. Rather like organic and biodynamic certification, old vines are ‘a sign of quality – but not a guarantee,’ to quote Bizeul.

‘A young asshole will become an old asshole,’ he says; just because a vine is old doesn’t make it good. But if a plant has survived for a century, it suggests that the wine it makes is special enough to have warranted its long-term cultivation and nurturing. Otherwise it would have been pulled out long ago.

These old warriors have seen many changes in Roussillon. The rise and fall of aperitifs like Byrrh, of sweet Muscats, of vins doux naturels, of Parkerised reds… let’s hope they can survive the climate turmoil of the 21st century.

20 old vine wines to try:

The wines below are made from vines at least 60 years old. Wines are listed by style then score.

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History is the foundation on which Penfolds has built its success as an Australian winery of provenance. As the winery celebrates its 180th anniversary this year, the Penfolds Collection 2024 not only echoes this history, but also reinforces the company’s future as a globally minded wine producer.

To unveil these wines in Australia, media were invited to a private tasting at the historic Kalimna Vineyard – one of the most important Penfolds sites in the Barossa. It was a frosty morning in the middle of an especially cold South Australian winter.

These ancient vines have endured such conditions countless times through their 136-year life. Yet they still produce some of the finest and most distinctive Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon in Australia.

The setting underlined what Penfolds does best. Yet while its international reputation rests on distinctive Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon has shone brightest in recent vintages. Indeed outstanding Cabernet accounted for the best talking points of the Penfolds Collection 2024.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for the Penfolds Collection 2024 releases

Anniversary release

Supreme-quality Cabernet is the star component of a special new release, created to mark Penfolds’ 180th anniversary. Inspired by the legendary Bin 60A 1962, the superb Bin 180 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz, features elite parcels of grapes from the esteemed 2021 vintage.

Chief winemaker Peter Gago emphasised that many previous Penfolds special releases paved the way for such styles to continue through subsequent vintages. It was a strong indication that other wines from Penfolds’ Coonawarra vineyards built according to this model could be expected in coming years.

Napa Cabernet

Smart treatment of Cabernet Sauvignon also defined the highlights of Penfolds’ increasingly impressive portfolio of wines made with grapes from countries outside of Australia. The fourth vintage release of Penfolds’ Californian wines has seen a significant step forward.

Each of four wines that feature Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon demonstrate more confidence and restraint.

Penfold senior winemaker Steph Dutton had smartly suggested issuing a single-vineyard wine from the 2021 Californian vintage: an elegant blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from Howell Mountain vineyard.

‘It was a response to an extraordinary parcel of fruit,’ says Dutton. ‘It’s not typical of what you’d expect from Napa Cabernet – and it really signifies that we are prepared to make a very different type of wine from this region.’

Bordeaux blends

Cabernet Sauvignon is also the key component of two notable French collaborations. The FWT 585 is a Bordeaux blend featuring Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot. While the ambitious Penfolds II combines Dourthe Bordeaux Cabernet with Penfolds Coonawarra Cabernet.

But the most unorthodox and curious use of Cabernet is in CWT521. This is the first release of a blend from two Chinese vineyards: Cabernet Sauvignon from the southwestern Shangri-La region in Yunnan Province and Marselan from the northern Ningxia Province.

Penfolds fortified and spirits winemaker Matt Woo has overseen the Chinese wine trial project. He has great enthusiasm for the potential of Marselan, which is a hybrid of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache.

‘We are only just coming to appreciate the potential of the generous Marselan flavours,’ he says. ‘But this wine points us in an exciting new direction.’

Wines in the 2024 Penfolds Collection will be released globally on Thursday 1 August.

Penfolds Collection 2024: scores and tasting notes

Wines are listed in score order, sparkling, white, then red

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Barossa Shiraz 2022 overall vintage Rating: 4/5

A strong vintage with fruit of superb quality despite small yields. Winter rains nourished the vines, but frost, hail and wind events affected bunch sizes and reduced yields. Summer was cooler than usual; grapes ripened slowly and steadily in ideal conditions. The longer ripening period produced more nuanced, complex flavour profiles.

If you think you know all about Barossa Shiraz, think again. The historic South Australian wine region leapt to international prominence in the 1990s for the sunny generosity and driving power of its old-vine Shiraz. But the 2022 vintage shows things are changing. Significantly.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for wines rated 94 and above

The best new wines from the Barossa have a leanness and nimbleness that belies a long-held stereotype of Shiraz behemoths labouring under the weight of high alcohol and super-ripe fruit. Now, alcohol levels have dipped, palates have lively middle-weight verve and an understated elegance draws you deeper into the charm of these wines.

The 2022 vintage – a strong vintage with fruit of superb quality despite small yields – provides a fascinating viewpoint to observe this transition in motion. The stars of Decanter’s inaugural vintage report on the region have cast the profile of outstanding Barossa Shiraz in a fresh light.

Vintage conditions

Coming on the heels of the esteemed 2021 vintage, grapes from 2022 have produced superb wines, despite some vintage challenges. Strong winter rains during 2021 continued into spring, giving great nourishment to the vines, but this good news was tempered by damaging pockets of frost plus fierce hail and wind events during flowing that affected bunch sizes and reduced yields.

Summer was cooler than usual, but forecasted rains never happened, so the grapes ripened slowly and steadily in ideal conditions. Warm, sunny days and cool nights stretched into early autumn, and the longer ripening period produced more nuanced, complex flavour profiles in the grapes.

Despite its late conclusion, the 2022 vintage produced an ideal set of circumstances for Barossa winemakers to highlight important stylistic changes they have made in handling the finest quality Shiraz grapes.

An evolution of style

The most exciting wines are far removed from the Barossa’s historical ‘reserve’ styles, so prevalent in the early 2000s. At that time winemakers seemed obliged to focus on concentration, the strong use of new oak and strident tannin profiles – often with grapes ill-equipped to handle such assertive treatment.

There was a misguided belief that powerful fruit from old Shiraz vines could only be fully expressed with maximum ripeness, with all those inflated grape sugar levels being converted into high alcohol.

The best new-style Barossa Shiraz shows that notion to be a fallacy. Winemakers using components of whole bunch fermentation have added crucial vitality, pretty perfumes and energy to the depth of old vine complexity. Fruit is being picked earlier, to retain more sharply defined acids that amplify clean flavours.

Suddenly, there’s dramatic contrast at play – a rigorous pull between red and black flavour profiles, as lithe and luscious textures wrestle with tannic grip – proving that more Barossa winemakers have found smart ways to express intense old vine flavours with greater nuance and poise.

Click here to see all the wines tasted for this report

Producers to watch

Several of the most compelling 2022 Shiraz interpretations are provided by people who have come from outside the Barossa. They include Michael Hall, who evaluated jewellery in Switzerland before devoting himself to making wine in France, then in the Barossa; as well as Alex Head, of Head Wines, from Sydney.

Thistledown’s Masters of Wine Giles Cooke MW and Fergal Tynan MW are UK-based. While Alkina winemaker Amelia Nolan, from Wrattonbully, also spent several decades in the UK wine trade.

Alkina proprietor Alejandro Bulgheroni is from Argentina. Belinda van Eyssen from South Africa is emerging as a striking new talent with The Cutting winery.

Their keen perspective on refined wines of elegance underscores that great Barossa fruit is an asset that shines when treated with tender care, rather than labouring under unnecessary hefty weight.

It’s therefore encouraging to also see stalwarts including Torbreck, Kaesler and Hentley Farm lighten the load of their Shiraz without sacrificing power and persistence. Greenock Creek is also in transition to embrace a more restrained style.

Other Barossans are looking at Shiraz afresh, from the vineyard rootstock up. Winemaker Dan Eggleton, whose Ben Murray Wines Shiraz 2022 is impressive for the lively appeal of its powerful old vine fruit, is now working with grower Matt Neldner to explore different Shiraz clones in greater detail.

They are making small parcels of wine from the 2023 vintage from five different Shiraz clones (R6, 1653, 1125, SAVVI60, PT23), all sourced from the same terroir in the Barossa’s Marananga sub-region.

Barossa: the facts

Founded: 1842

Vineyards: 14,236ha under vine, with 11,847ha in the Barossa Valley (elevation 112m-597m) and 2,389ha in the adjacent Eden Valley (elevation 217m-637m). This represents 9.7% of Australia’s total wine production.

Climate: dry and hot. Barossa average rainfall 160mm; Eden Valley average rainfall 280mm. Mean temperatures during the key January growing period: 21.4℃ in Barossa, 19.4℃ in Eden Valley.

Vine age: Barossa has the oldest producing Shiraz vines in the world planted in 1843. 283ha of vines are more than 70 years of age; 82ha are more than 125 years old.

The 30 top-scoring 2022 Barossa Shiraz

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The steady increase in the quality of Indian wines in the last 10 to 15 years, combined with experimentation in both the vineyards and cellars of India, has positioned the country to offer an enticing and great value selection of wines.

Literary records date the history of winemaking in India back to the 13th century BCE, but today’s burgeoning wine industry owes its heritage to Indian entrepreneurs in the late 20th century.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 12 Indian wines

Entrepreneur-driven industry

Literary records date the history of winemaking in India back to the 13th century BCE, but today’s burgeoning wine industry owes its heritage to Indian entrepreneurs in the late 20th century.

The pioneering Chateau Indage was founded in 1986 by the late Shamrao Chougule in Narayangaon – half-way between Nashik and Pune in the state of Maharashtra.

‘Omar Khayyam’, its bottle-fermented sparkling wine, astounded journalists by bagging medals in wine competitions in the UK in the late 1980s.

Kanwal Grover was another pioneering industrialist who developed a passion for wine during his business trips to France in the 1980s, so he set up Grover Vineyards in the Nandi Hills outside Bangalore and launched its first wines in 1996.

French expertise played a key role in getting Indian wines off the ground: Piper-Heidsieck advised Chateau Indage, and Champagne Mumm consulted for Grover.

In 1997, Sula Vineyards was established by Rajeev Samant when he returned to his native Nashik from Silicon Valley.

Boom and bust

The Maharashtra state government’s wine policy and subsidies encouraged the establishment of numerous other wineries in the early 2000s.

However, the lack of expertise in growing wine grapes, and producing or selling wines left many of these new businesses struggling.

The global financial crisis of 2007 and the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008 were the final nails in the coffin for many.

For example, the astronomic rise of Indage, listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange at one point, was followed by a sudden fall and the eventual collapse of the group in the early 2010s.

Unsurprisingly, a wave of consolidation started: distressed producers were acquired, or their facilities leased; and contract-farming arrangements re-shaped grape supply too.

Investment funds entered the wine industry, most notably Visvires Capital amalgamated Grover Zampa – the second largest producer today – from Grover Vineyards in Karnataka and Vallée de Vin in Nashik.

Visvires has also purchased Charosa Vineyards in Nashik and Four Seasons Vineyards in Pune, creating the first multi-faceted wine group in India.

The latter, formerly owned by Vijay Mallya’s UB Group, boasts a French-styled chateau as its winemaking facility.

New winery trends

But others have thrived. Sula, with annual production over 10 million litres, is now the largest winery in the country.

Furthermore, post-Covid a number of small garage wineries, such as the 500-bottle Plateaux Vintners, have been established.

This is run by former Sula chief-winemaker Ajoy Shaw and Nipha Winery, a truly artisanal outfit with winemaking literally in the shed and home-made pizza from their very own wood-fired oven.

There is also a growing market for fruit wines, made using local produce such as mango and the indigenous jamun, a rather tart-deep purple fruit.

Subtropical Diversity

It’s good to remember that the distance between Nashik in Maharashtra and the Nandi Hills in Karnataka is 1,000 kilometres, the same as the distance between the Rheingau in Germany and Tuscany in Italy.

This brings a substantial difference in climate conditions. The idea of uniform warmth and humidity in the Indian subcontinent is very far from the truth.

In addition to the vast expanse of the country, altitude matters a great deal in terms of temperatures.

During the period of the Raj, Bangalore used to be the summer retreat for the British in the south, as its cooler climate provided welcome relief from the heat.

This is why the old Kanwal Grover chose the Nandi Hills (920 metres above sea level) outside Bangalore as its base.

Similarly, Nashik, at an altitude of 670m, offers significantly cooler temperatures during the growing season which helps the retention of acidity.

Grapes harvested from lower-altitudes meanwhile – e.g. Solapur and Sangli in the south of Maharashtra, or inland vineyards such as Bijapur in northern Karnataka – show better ripeness, adding a plusher quality to the wine.

Monsoon influence

The location of vine-growing regions also means different patterns in the monsoon: the direction it arrives from, how long it persists and the amount of rain it brings.

Considering that vines have no dormancy in the subtropical climate, the monsoon significantly influences work in the vineyard.

The pre-growing season pruning starts in late August, sometimes as late as early October, depending on the confidence of the grower that the monsoon has petered out and there will be no more rain.

The excess vegetative growth is cut back, so any rain in the ensuing days poses less of a risk of fungal infection.

The timing of this pruning determines the timing of the harvest: the later in the autumn the pruning, the later in the new year the harvest is.

Why this matters is because the temperature curve in this climatic zone is diametrically opposite to both the northern and southern hemispheres.

The temperature is high at the beginning of the growing season and subsides as the fruit sets after flowering. It reaches its lowest in late December and early January after which the mercury starts to rise rapidly as the start of the new monsoon season approaches.

Growers are keen to pick once grapes are ripe enough, both for sugar and tannins; but not overripe which can easily happen with quickly escalating temperatures between late February and early April.

Consequently, grapes destined to be the base wine for sparkling wines are often harvested from mid- or late December onwards; followed by whites in January and then the reds.

Drinking Compass: Regions, producers, varieties & styles

Invariably, most Indian wineries are in or around Nashik, which is located 180km northeast of Mumbai, the commercial capital of India.

Just off the Mumbai–Nashik highway, the meandering road – at times still nearly a dirt track – takes the traveller to two wineries: Grover Zampa and Vallonné Vineyards.

Grover Zampa’s plush Cabernet-Shiraz blend La Réserve was charming punters at Gordon’s Wine Bar in London’s Embankment nearly 20 years ago and continues to provide great value for money.

It’s worth noting that Cabernet-Shiraz is the ‘classic’ Indian blend, probably because these are the two red varieties produced in the largest quantity in the country.

Grover Zampa offers a full portfolio: bottle-fermented sparkling (Soirée), fruit-driven still wines (Art Collection), to seriously full-bodied reds (Vijay Amritraj or Chêne) as well as special series reds differentiated by the type of vessel – foudre, egg, barrique – used for fermentation (Signet).

On the other hand, family-owned Vallonné’s wines are made in small quantities and its zesty Sauvignon Blanc, peppery Cabernet Sauvignon rosé or special edition Anokhee Cabernet and Syrah are the ones to look out for either at the winery itself or in Mumbai’s trendy restaurants.

Tourist attraction

Sula Vineyards is among the most visited wineries in the world with 360,000 tourists arriving every year.

Sula offers everything from entry-level, fruit-forward wines up to barrel-aged premium labels. The Chenin Blancs, which come in both an off-dry, fresh and zesty style as well as in an oak-fermented dry edition, are particular favourites.

Meanwhile, the Dindori range, named after a sub-region of Nashik, never fails to impress with its more serious take varieties such as Viognier and Shiraz.

Recent additions include a Provençal style Grenache rosé and the re-invented Tropicale Brut, which now comes as a tank-fermented sparkling wine.

Talking of sparkling wines, Chandon India produces a supremely fresh and elegant brut from Chenin Blanc, the white grape of choice for most sparkling wines in India as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have been to difficult to grow.

Home far from home

Fratelli Wines, located three hours’ drive from Pune, was set up by three pairs of brothers, one pair from Tuscany, hence the Italian name.

Sangiovese has found a second home for itself in the rolling hills of Akluj, thanks to the Secci brothers and the late Piero Masi who was the first master winemaker at Fratelli.

Sette is a full-bodied blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet, aged in oak barrels and with a good potential for further cellaring.

Near the World Heritage site of Hampi, there is Krsma Estates. It is nestled in a breathtakingly beautiful landscape in remote, mid-state Karnataka.

The proprietors run a multi-billion-pound global pharma business and spare no expense to craft seriously good wines.

It was one of two producers that convinced me that India can make premium Cabernet Sauvignon with great ageing potential.

Currently, the wines are available in the Hyderabad and Bangalore markets only and when quantities allow, New York City wine merchants get allocations.

Bangalore is home to Grover Zampa where visitors can try wines with the Nandi Hills as their backdrop and Sula’s twin business Domaine Sula – created because the fragmented domestic alcohol market of India makes wines imported from another state prohibitively expensive.

Big Banyan Wines offers a perfect wine destination just outside Bangalore too, with a lush tropical garden, an excellent outdoors restaurant as well as a tasting room and bottle shop.

Big Banyan offers mid-range, fruit-forward varietal wines from the most widely produced varieties in India: Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as Riesling, Chardonnay, Viognier, Zinfandel, Merlot and Grenache as well.

Five producers to know:

1. Sula Vineyards: India’s largest wine producer, located in Nashik, which is quickly becoming India’s ‘wine country’. Fruit-forward wines that are especially good with spicy food.

2. Grover Zampa: with its roots in the Nandi Hills outside Bangalore, the winery has a base in Nashik too. European-styled wines with a distinct Indian charm.

3. Fratelli Wines: a blend of Italian and Indian cultures, notable for being the sole producer of Sangiovese in India. Also producers fine wines from Akluj.

4. Krsma Estates: close to World Heritage Hampi, fine and age-worthy wines.

5. Vallonné Vineyards: picture-perfect location just outside Nashik, gastronomic wines from a charming small producer and open to tourists.

Indian wines to try:

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A tasting note is a written record of an encounter with a wine. Sometimes the meeting is brief; you shake hands and move on.

But occasionally you become embroiled. Words spread across the page and spill down it, there is so much to say. Even before you’ve had time to draw any conclusions, you know you’re in the presence of something special.

Vincent Paris’ La Geynale from the hillside of Cornas, is reliably one such wine.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for Vincent Paris’ La Geynale

When young, it’s a roaring black hole, massive, dense, drawing you in. A wine so assertive it seems to taste you as much as you taste it.

I visited Vincent Paris one grey spring morning to taste nine early vintages to see how they are developing – and whether any vintages of this famously long-lived wine are ready to drink yet.

A Cornas grand cru

Like dogs and their owners, sometimes wines embody the winemaker. But not here. Paris cuts a lean figure, he’s reserved, and doesn’t waste words.

He doesn’t seek the limelight – he’s happy to let the place do the talking. And what a place it is.

The granite slopes of the Northern Rhône can be steep and jagged, but Cornas is particularly chaotic.

Though the heart of the appellation is essentially east-facing, thanks to the streams that cut down from the plateau above, there are some south-facing vineyards.

Reynard – the greatest lieu-dit of them all – is one of them. Paris says La Geynale isn’t technically a lieu-dit itself – it’s just the name given to the eastern flank of Reynard.

‘It’s the hottest terroir in Cornas,’ says Paris, and very dry with it. His cuvée La Geynale comes principally from a 1ha parcel from this side of the hill, hence the name – but it also contains 0.3ha of Reynard.

Generational transition

When Paris’ great-grandfather replanted the site in 1910 after phylloxera, he included a few white vines.

But when the appellation was officially ratified in 1938, it was agreed that Cornas must be 100% Syrah.

‘You still find a few white grapes to eat during harvest,’ notes Paris.

It was his uncle, the great Robert Michel, who tended the site for 40 years before Paris. Michel trained some of Cornas leading winemakers, including Guillaume Gilles, Thierry Allemand, and Paris himself.

Paris’ parents weren’t winemakers, so establishing his own estate was a struggle. Thankfully his grandfather bequeathed him a hectare of Cornas vines in 1997, which gave him a crucial foothold.

After Michel’s last vintage in 2006, he decided to sell his vineyards, and he gave Paris first refusal on his parcel of La Geynale. Naturally Paris was keen – but the price of land had risen to €500,000 per hectare.

‘The bank said no to begin with,’ says Paris, so he reached out to investors – mostly other wine professionals. Having successfully reached his target, his first vintage of La Geynale was 2007.

Sticking to tradition

Paris says he’s tasted 30-year-old bottles of Michel’s La Geynale that were still in great shape, and this has convinced him to keep to similar methods.

‘I wanted to keep my uncle’s ways, so it’s still whole bunch,’ he says. ‘With climate change it’s much better, because when you ferment with the stalks it reduces alcohol by around 0.5%. And the vegetal side brings freshness and a menthol note.’

He continues to use indigenous yeasts, ferments in concrete tanks, and matures the wines in three to eight-year-old barriques and demi-muids for a year or more.

He makes two other Cornas cuvées – Granit 30 and Granit 60, the numbers referring to the steepness of the slopes where the grapes are grown.

But La Geynale is his top cuvée, amounting to just 5,000 bottles a year on average.

The tasting

Paris generously opened bottles of all the vintages of La Geynale he had in his cellar – there was no more stock of the earlier-drinking 2008, 2014 and 2016.

Despite their concentration and intensity, three of them are already good to go – including the oldest (2007) and – more surprisingly – the youngest (2018).

He didn’t add any sulfites in 2007 and 2008, and the 2007 certainly stands out for its wild side.

The bottle we tasted was a touch volatile and had an animal aroma that later vintages didn’t share. It also had more marked acidity and drier tannins, which is likely down to the vintage.

It nonetheless offered complexity and enjoyment, but the 2009 and 2010 were a big step up, even if neither were ready to drink.

These are both great vintages in Cornas, and the 2010 in particular is a phenomenal wine. It displayed the classic markers of the greatest Cornas: aromatically, it brimmed with smoke, slate and menthol.

Texturally it was bristling with the angular, pointed tannins that make Cornas such a physical experience.

One of the great cuvées

Another great vintage was 2015, which will be no great shock – an exceptional vintage in the Northern Rhône.

What might be more surprising is the quality of the 2013 – not usually considered a brilliant vintage, but Paris made an involving wine with freshness and finesse.

Cornas usually takes many years for its tannins to soften, but the exception is 2018 – these are delicious young, even from traditional estates such as Paris and Clape.

A couple of vintages (2011, 2017) showed a gamey side that some wine lovers might find off-putting, but in neither case did it dominate the wine.

But for this reason, I would consider drinking these two sooner rather than later.

This tasting confirmed what I’ve long felt about Vincent Paris’ La Geynale: it is one of the great Cornas cuvées, classically styled, with awesome longevity in good vintages.

And while some other estates’ top wines have become stratospherically expensive, La Geynale remains relatively affordable.

It reminded me that a great wine can tell you a lot – about a place, its history, a family, tradition, ideas of beauty and the passing of time. It’s the kind of encounter you don’t forget in a hurry.

Vincent Paris, Cornas, La Geynale vertical

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As the sun glimmered on the Hudson River, glinting off skyscrapers and filling the 60th floor of the Manhatta building with light, masterclass guests hung on legendary Rhône winemaker Michel Chapoutier’s every word.

Head of his family’s M Chapoutier winery, he launched into an impassioned, swooping discussion, weaving soil analysis, ampelography, the golden ratio, epigenetics (the ability of the plant to adapt its own genetics), the emotional intelligence of plants, rootstocks, vintage conditions, food pairings and his winemaking philosophy into an engaging, compelling and evocative performance.

Only the Jimi Hendrix of wine could capture an audience in such a way.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the eight wines tasted at Decanter’s M Chapoutier masterclass

Unlocking the secrets of terroir

If there is any winemaker qualified to talk about terroir, it is Michel Chapoutier. With his Sélections Parcellaires wines, he aims to showcase the unique song that different soils and vineyard sites can sing when given the chance.

To wine lovers today, this may seem an obvious conviction for a winemaker to have. After all, it is often a central part of their narrative. But, said Chapoutier during the masterclass, 40 years ago this wasn’t the case; generally soil wasn’t considered that important in the notion of terroir.

So he set out, not to try and make the best wines, but to try and take the best snapshot possible of an individual terroir. ‘Quite comfortable for a lazy winemaker like me,’ he told guests.

While there are 17 Sélections Parcellaires wines in the M Chapoutier universe – across the appellations of Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, Crozes-Hermitage, St-Joseph, Cornas, Condrieu and Châteauneuf-du-Pape – it was the Hermitage iterations that attendees at DFWE NYC 2024 were treated to on Saturday 8 June. Each was an individual expression, a soaring aria, of a tiny vineyard parcel.

The intricate patchwork of Hermitage hill

Through two whites and two reds, each across two vintages, Chapoutier explained to guests the unique characters each single-vineyard plot can express.

M Chapoutier, De L’Orée, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2018

M Chapoutier, Le Méal Blanc, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2018

M Chapoutier, De L’Orée, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2011

M Chapoutier, Le Méal Blanc, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2011

M Chapoutier, Le Pavillon, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2014

M Chapoutier, L’Ermite Rouge, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2014

M Chapoutier, Le Pavillon, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2011

M Chapoutier, L’Ermite Rouge, Hermitage, Rhône, Franc 2011

Biodynamics

Having converted all of his vineyards to biodynamic farming in the early 1990s, Chapoutier has often been called a maverick. During the masterclass, he compared chemical farming to having a headache and taking an aspirin. It takes care of the symptoms but not the underlying problem.

Organic farming does the same, but instead of using the chemical molecule, it uses the natural molecule. Biodynamics, on the other hand, questions why you have the headache in the first place,; what the origin is.

One of the first things he noticed as an obvious result of converting to biodynamics was an increase in the wines’ natural level of acidity.

As well as explaining why biodynamics has such an important impact on his wines, Chapoutier stressed how the use of ambient yeasts for fermentation is also crucial to expressing the uniqueness of his terroir.

‘Wine is an aromatic symphony,’ he said. ‘With selected yeast, it’s like playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with only the violin. But if you use wild yeast, you have a full symphony orchestra.’

According to Chapoutier, as well as soil, climate and human influence, vintage plays an important role when talking about terroir. What made this masterclass particularly fascinating was the ability to taste wines from differnt vineyard sites but from the same vintage side by side, as well as from an older vintage.

Food pairing potential

A winemaker who loves to cook, Chapoutier gave tantalising food-pairing suggestions for each of his wines.

The noble bitterness inherent in the Marsanne grape (the sole player in both the De L’Orée and Le Méal whites), lends itself particularly well to pairing – ‘a bridge for the marriage between wine and food’, he said.

Chapoutier suggested pairing De L’Orée 2018 with lamb curry, for example, or to take the pairing to another level with the traditional Chinese dish of century eggs. Le Pavillon 2014 he proposed lièvre à la royale (a French dish of hare slow cooked in red wine, heart, liver, lungs and blood), or roasted woodcock.

DFWE NYC 2024: the M Chapoutier masterclass wines

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Wine with burgers: Styles to consider

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Syrah / Shiraz
• Grenache / Garnacha
• Sangiovese
• Pinot Noir
• Cabernet Franc 
• Grüner Veltliner with chicken burgers
• Rossese di Dolceacqua with tuna burgers
• Orange wines or earthy Pinot Noir with veggie burgers

A brief burger history

An ancient recipe book named Apicius suggests that Romans were eating wine-infused meat patties centuries before Ronald McDonald and his associates, including Mayor McCheese, were discovered living in the fictional world of McDonaldland.

Other food historians believe ‘hamburgers’ evolved from the traditional Hamburg steak in Germany.

Whoever is right, burgers are now ubiquitous, and recent incarnations have turned the humble patty and bun combination into an art form.

The environmental and public health impacts of consuming too much meat are increasingly well understood. So, following the ‘less but better’ mantra, if you’re going to eat a burger, then make it a good one.

And if you’re going to have a great burger, it deserves a great wine.

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Wines with classic beef burgers

For a classic ground beef burger, consider some of the go-to red meat wines, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. A juicy Grenache or classic ‘GSM’ blend could also be a great accompaniment to a night of comfort food, as recommended in our guide to choosing a barbecue wine.

If you’re a Malbec fan, consider wines from cooler vineyard sites that may have higher-than-normal acidity, as advised by expert Patricio Tapia in this article on matching wine with steak.

And why not uncork a top bottle?

‘I’m definitely a fan of a top-notch wine and a burger,’ said Clive Pursehouse, Decanter’s North American editor.

He said a medium-rare burger with ‘perfectly seasoned fries – you call them chips over there – and a couple of glasses of Washington State Syrah or Oregon Pinot Noir or in the summertime, Lambrusco, is pretty close to perfect’.

Beatrice Bessi, now head sommelier at Chiltern Firehouse, also voted for Syrah when she spoke to Decanter in 2019 in her position as assistant head sommelier at London’s 67 Pall Mall.

‘The structure, with the black fruit, dried herbs and smoky, gamey profile, will work perfectly,’ she said at the time.

‘When I pair food with wine, every single detail matters, [such as] the structure of the dish, the flavour profile, the acidity, whether there are any spices.’

‘For a burger, I would consider red as an option because the tannic structure can balance the structure of the grilled beef.’

Alongside Syrah, she added, ‘A nice glass of Sangiovese from Tuscany, like a Chianti Classico or a Brunello di Montalcino, would always work, where the acidity and tannins are able to match the burger, and the roasted herbs are enhancing the flavours of the meat.’

Another option would be to prioritise the acidity and fruit. ‘I’ve always loved Cabernet Franc with burgers,’ said Decanter expert Michaela Morris. ‘Not too heavy, bright crunchy fruit and even better with a chill, it is a refreshing summertime match.’

While Loire Valley Cabernet Franc would be a classic choice, she also suggested looking at Ontario in her native Canada.

What about the cheese, we hear you ask?

A creamier, fattier cheese will likely emphasise the need for juicy fruit and good acidity. In contrast, a tangier, harder cheese melted into your patty might be able to handle a slightly bolder wine, such as a Cabernet-based Bordeaux blend.

See our cheese and wine matching guide, but be warned that some things may not translate. Sauternes is often a dream with blue cheeses like Stilton or Roquefort, but its sweetness may not be so fun in this situation.

Wine with chicken burgers or fish burgers

For any dish, lighter meat in your burger means a move towards slightly lighter styles of wine, but with enough acidity and structure to stand up to the array of ingredients.

Matthieu Longuère MS, of Le Cordon Bleu London, previously recommended Austrian Grüner Veltliner for chicken dishes that involve garlic, herb and lemon flavours; and this could be adapted to a burger scenario.

In a similar vein, light, zippy reds can work with some fish burgers.

‘I tend to eat tuna burgers much more often, and one of the best pairings I’ve had with this was a Rossese di Dolceacqua [from Liguria in Italy],’ said Michaela Morris.

‘The salty and sour nature of the fruit and easygoing tannin just shone with fish.’

Pairing wine with veggie burgers

Natalie Earl, Decanter’s regional editor for France, suggested delving into the world of orange wine.

‘It is often really textural with a grippy mouthfeel and a savoury edge with dried herbs like sage and thyme, plus dried orange and orange peel notes. I think orange wine pairs really well because veggie burgers are often herby and slightly spicy,’ she said.

She also suggested more earthy Pinot Noir styles, such as village-level Burgundy, rather than riper Pinot styles.

‘I think the more savoury, delicate characters would go better with a veggie burger. Something from the Côte de Beaune, like Monthélie or Maranges, would bring a peppery redcurrant vibe to the dish.’

Experimenting is part of the fun

Of course, there are many more combinations of burger and wine styles than we can cover in this article, and experimenting is part of the fun when it comes to food and wine matching.

If you’re trying out your own matches, consider how certain flavours complement or contrast each other, as Karen MacNeil explains in the 10 rules of food and wine pairing.

Search our expert wine reviews to find your perfect match

Wine with burgers: Recent reviews by Decanter experts

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Syrah in the US remains an enigma. Cult brands that emerged during the 1990s – Sine Qua Non on the Central Coast or Cayuse Vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley – are among the country’s iconic and most expensive wines.

But by and large, Syrah is still the perennial underdog of American wine. ‘There’s this assumption that Syrah [in America] is just this goopy, overly alcoholic, overoaked and overextracted wine,’ explains Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen, the winemaker-sommelier who produces WT Vintners’ Syrah from vineyards in Washington and Oregon.

The benchmark for Syrah is still encapsulated in the northern Rhône ideal. But to critics who claim that Syrah’s otherworldliness, its haunting florality and sanguine, sauvage complexities, can’t be found outside France, America’s Syrah growers have a firm response…

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 30 of the best Syrahs from across the US

‘Sorry, that’s just ignorance,’ says Christopher Bates MS, the winemaker and owner of Element Winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. The greatness that we tend to associate with the northern Rhône, that perfume, that spice, that earthiness, ‘isn’t necessarily derived from just one specific place’, he explains. ‘It’s linked to a style and mentality of wine-growing and winemaking, too.’

While pioneering Americans have been championing Syrah since the 1980s, in the broader scheme of history Syrah is barely nascent here, suggests Nikolas Krankl, whose parents Elaine and Manfred established Sine Qua Non in 1994. Today, Nikolas and his wife Julia, founders of Fingers Crossed Wine in Santa Barbara County, are among America’s next generation of Syrah champions. ‘The gift and the curse is that we don’t have that history,’ says Julia. ‘But that also means we can be as creative as we want.’

The most provocative Syrahs grown in America are still a testament to that pioneering spirit – explorations of untried sites, blending from different climates and terroir, experiments in whole-cluster ferments and earlier picking.

Across the spectrum

From Washington and Oregon to California and New York, the kaleidoscope of American Syrah is vast and wildly unsung. California is where you’ll find the greatest spectrum of diversity. In the chilly, windswept pockets of Sonoma or the Central Coast – San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara or sub-regions such as the Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley – you’ll find Syrah that’s often shockingly spry, laser-etched and perfumed. And, unlike in the northern Rhône these days, there’s an abundance of exceptional Syrah at a compact 12% alcohol.

Those seeking wines with more muscularity are directed further inland to warmer areas of Santa Barbara, such as the corridors of the Ballard and Happy canyons, or Paso Robles, where Syrah is intense and ripe but moored to that resinous, smoky allure of chaparral.

Further north, Syrah also flourishes in the Columbia Valley – particularly in areas such as the Yakima and Walla Walla valleys – which straddles the border between Washington and Oregon. Syrah here ‘is never short on fruit but can go into this feral, spicy place that’s an interesting bridge between the Old World and the New World’, says Lindsay-Thorsen.

Click here to see tasting notes and scores of 16 additional top Syrahs from across the US

The alluvial plain of the Oregon side of the AVA, littered with cobblestones reminiscent of the galets roulés of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, is an epicentre of Syrah in the Walla Walla Valley. Made famous by Cayuse and designated with its own sub-region, the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA, which is home to a roll call of standout producers and winemakers, including Sean Boyd, founder of Rotie Cellars and Proper Wines.

‘There’s this fingerprint here [in the Rocks District],’ Boyd asserts, ‘this Rocks-funk that’s deeply savoury – like earth and olive tapenade – that can be so polarising and visceral.’ And yet so distinctly American, too.

See notes and scores for 30 of the best American Syrahs

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Years ago when interviewing Ian Hongell, he dismissed generic stereotypes about South Australia’s Barossa Valley: ‘it’s not one flat paddock!’ Back then he worked for Peter Lehmann. Today Hongell is chief winemaker and general manager at Torbreck, a winery that shot to fame in the 1990s by cherry-picking the best of that ‘paddock’.

Influential US critic Robert Parker gave rave reviews for Torbreck’s opulent Shiraz-based wines, sourced from select dry-grown, old-vine parcels, vinified in small batches and seamlessly constructed. Parker awarded 100 points to the inaugural 2005 vintage of The Laird, Torbreck’s flagship single-vineyard Shiraz, now among Australia’s most expensive wines.

Scroll down for scores and tasting notes of 16 Torbreck wines

Dave Powell, a self-taught winemaker intent in his pursuit of high-end Barossa Shiraz, founded Torbreck in 1994. ‘It was remarkable what Dave achieved in the period he was involved with the business,’ reflected Hongell. ‘He broke ground for many Australian producers.’

Hongell admits that, prior to joining Torbreck, he’d not fully appreciated the pedigree of this 85 hectare estate and its 200ha of contract fruit sources.

Torbreck pays more than AU$10,000/tonne for top grapes. Before acquiring The Laird vineyard in 2014 (allegedly Australia’s most expensive vineyard purchase by price per hectare) Torbreck reportedly paid AU$20,000/tonne for its grapes.

Within this elevated price range ‘you’re genuinely accessing different fruit – little bullets that sit on the vine, enduring the season. They give lovely woody tannins and colour, stable anthocyanins and tannins, but the wines are still primary and vibrant.’

Sticking to the Torbreck blueprint

Hongell joined Torbreck in 2017, by which time the company had changed hands twice. First in 2003 (following its receivership), then in 2008 when acquired by American ecommerce magnate Peter Kight, the current owner. Powell remained at Torbreck until 2013, leaving following an acrimonious spat with Kight.

Speculation was rife that Torbreck would falter without its charismatic founder, but the wines continue to sell out. ‘With gentle price increases across the portfolio,’ adds Hongell. Two extraordinarily low-yielding vintages in 2019 and 2020 saw them over-allocated.

Hongell says that with ‘amazing wines and an amazing brand’, his brief was simple: to keep making Torbreck. The core DNA of the wines revolves around the vineyards, which are substantially the same as they’ve always been. They are focused on the elevated slopes and depleted soils of the Barossa Valley’s Western Ridge and Lyndoch, plus an Eden Valley component.

Winemaker Scott McDonald – a veteran of 16 Torbreck vintages – is well-versed in the signature grape handling and maturation regime. There was a blueprint, said Hongell, and making wine is a team effort.

‘We want you to smell the aromas and taste the fruit,’ explains Hongell. ‘Mature, very fine tannins rein the fruit in, setting the wines up for longevity.’ He enjoys the reds in their first five years when they are upfront, and then around 15 to 20 years from vintage ‘when the vineyard character really shows up’.

Taking the risks on ripeness

Torbreck’s ‘go hard or go home’ methods of late picking and dry farming in a region that sometimes goes without rain for 300 days in a year has given Hongell sleepless nights. If a weather front comes in but the grapes are not ready to pick ‘we hang on the edge and gamble – we’re about creating flavours and textures that only time can give’. Hongell’s nickname is ‘rhino hide’ for his steadfast resistance to growers anxious to pick.

And this ability to pick so late is thanks to site selection, deep-rooted old vines and chief viticulturist Nigel Blieschke’s rigorous vineyard management. Blieschke zealously measures bud counts and yields to avoid fruit cooking inside the berry and collapsing – ‘we hate undesirable Porty or sweet and sour flavours,’ asserts Hongell. With such low yields, ‘awesome pH’ contributes to the wines’ natural balance.

To balance its ultra-concentrated fruit, The Laird’s lavish oak comes courtesy of ‘magic barrels’ from Dominique Laurent, the Burgundian winemaker who established his own cooperage.

Exclusive to the flagship Shiraz, the extra-thick staved barriques are made from particularly tight grained French oak, seasoned and toasted slowly for slow-leaching tannins and oxidation.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cuvée Juveniles – a luscious Grenache–Shiraz–Mataro blend – sees no oak. In between, Hongell uses fine, tight barriques, up to 50% new, plus an increasing number (currently 30) of French oak foudres ‘in quite judicious ratios relative to the wines’. The wines are all unfined and filtered, and Hongell recently introduced temperature and humidity management in the cellar.

Latest vintages

There is no such thing as normal, or even new normal, when it comes to harvest dates these days. Famous for its long hang times, ‘Torbreck never starts picking in February, but this year we did!’ exclaims Hongell during our tasting of the winery’s recent releases.

Save for 2021 – which Hongell describes as ‘a Goldilocks vintage – perfect in every way’ – the Barossa has experienced a roller-coaster run of vintages, savaged by yield-scything frost and hail events. With drought in 2019 and 2020 and three wet starts in 2021-2023, he observes: ‘You’ve got to have dry and wet racing tyres’.

On joining Torbreck, Hongell avowed ‘to keep the wines “Torbreckian”, but improve them, with consistency across the range’, while understanding ‘the best fit’ for each vineyard. ‘All children are different, and need a different upbringing,’ he quipped.

This tasting of predominantly new releases reinforced that he has remained true to his word. Through thick and thin vintages, irrespective of price point, the wines are resolutely Torbreckian in their hedonic fruit power and high alcohol. They also continue to gain in finesse. Even at 15 to 15.5% alcohol, Torbreck’s seductively perfumed reds have striking balance, detail and precision.

For Hongell, homing in on ‘super-fine, super-tight grained barrels for a much slower uptake of oak’ has improved the wines, which have become less broad, ‘with less showy oak’. ‘Drilling into everything in the vineyards on a deeper level’ has not only contributed to quality and consistency, but also extended Torbreck’s range.

Hongell is cock-a-hoop about The Forebear Shiraz 2019, the maiden release from 12 original rows from Hillside Vineyard, which were planted around 1850. From Lyndoch in southern Barossa, it is voluptuous; while The Laird from the north is all ripped muscle. Though different children indeed, both sit at the apex of Torbreck’s family of wines.

Paying it forward

There are no plans to expand production, although in 2019 Torbreck acquired Escarpment Winery in Martinborough, New Zealand from Larry McKenna, who continues to make its acclaimed Pinot Noir).

In the Barossa, where land values have skyrocketed, the focus is about securing the highest-quality fruit from existing vineyards and safeguarding the brand’s future. Just as Powell planted the Descendant vineyard with old-vine Runrig Shiraz cuttings in 1994, the Daylight Chamber vineyard has been planted with heritage clones – cuttings from exceptional Torbreck-owned and grower Shiraz vineyards.

Meanwhile, the Hillside vineyard has been supplemented with parcels of Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Viognier, Roussanne, Carignan and Counoise. ‘Salt and pepper,’ says Hongell, ‘to sharpen aromatics, and tweak and tighten up a broader, denser wine without losing its identity or changing our style’.

Hongell believes these new vineyards are less susceptible to modern diseases like eutypa dieback. In 150 years, he speculates, future generations might feel as thankful about working with centenarian vineyards as he does today. ‘Torbreck stands for the preservation of history and sites so we are paying it forward.’

Torbreck: the facts

Founded: 1994 by Dave Powell

Proprietor: Pete Kight, since 2008

Annual production: 75,000 12-bottle cases

Vineyard sources: 85ha Torbreck-owned: The Laird, Hillside, Keller, Descendant, The Daylight Chamber; plus 200ha owned by 35 growers

Vine age: Plantings from 1850s to 2017

Key varieties: Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Semillon

Production: 18 wines: 14 red, three white, one rosé

Price range: AU$25 to $800/bottle

Torbreck: 16 new releases and older vintages tasted and rated

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