At
our recent blind tasting of Shiraz and Syrahs, the KensWineGuide.com tasting panel awarded top honors to wines that were grown and produced in Australia, Argentina, and South Africa. Our winner is a familiar name to those who follow Aussie Shiraz. It was the 2005 Henry's Drive Shiraz $40. This 100% Shiraz hails from the Padthaway region in Australia. The panel scored this impressive wine 91.43 points. It was medium-bodied, smooth, well balanced, and displayed delicious blueberry flavors.  There was also an interesting touch of pepper and spice as well. The panel was very impressed with this Shiraz.
In second place was a Syrah that was a bit more of a shocker to the panel when it was unveiled. It was the Luca 2006 Syrah “Laborde Double Select” Syrah. This wine is 100% Syrah and comes from the La Consulta region in Argentina. Yes, Argentina! At $25 per bottle the panel thought that this wine was a steal. They gave it 91.14 points. It was a very dark opaque, purple colored wine that was medium-bodied, ultra smooth, and very well balanced. It also had delicious blueberry flavors. I sense a blueberry flavor theme happening here. When it came to ordering wines for the panelists own cellars, this was the Syrah of choice.
Third place was captured by a wine that always does well with the KWG tasting panel. The 2006 Rudi Schultz Syrah from Stellenbosch, South Africa always seems to finish near the top of the list. This year the panel scored this wine 90.86 points. The panel felt this offering would appeal to readers who like Syrahs from the Rhone Valley. It displayed some very interesting smoky black currant flavors with notes of blueberry and oak. It also was quite dry. The panel felt this wine was still a bit young and would really develop into something special with some cellar time. Buy a bottle of this wine and stash it away for a year or two.
In fourth place we returned to the Henry's Drive family. The 2006 Henry's Drive “Dead Letter Office” Shiraz for $27 scored Very Good+ with 90 points from the panel. This wine was sourced from two regions in Australia. Those regions are the McLaren Vale and the Padthaway. This offering was more like the traditional Aussie style with its smooth, but juicy blackberry flavors. The panel would pair this wine with a big thick ribeye or duck.
Just missing the Very Good+ mark was our 5th place finisher. The 2006 Yangarra “Single Vineyard” Shiraz for $25 scored a Very Good 89.33 points from the panel. This 100% Shiraz is also from the McLaren Vale region in
Our sixth place finisher was the Carchelo 2006 “Altico A” Syrah $20. The panel was impressed with this wine from Jumilla, Spain. Most folks do not equate Syrah with Spain so we were very pleased to see this wine perform well. We scored this wine Very Good with 88.79 points. Next up was a blend from down under. The Lane Vineyard 2006 “Off the Leash Max” $24 is a blend of 94% Shiraz & 6% Viognier. This Cote Rotie styled wine from Adelaide Hills, Australia scored 88.71 points. It was very easy to drink and displayed juicy black currant like flavors. The panel thought this wine would pair quite nicely with beef bourguignon.
The other Syrahs that we recommended are as follows:
8) Cadaretta 2006 Syrah $32 (Columbia Valley, WA) (88.58)
9) Trecini 2006 Syrah “Ladi's Vineyard” $25 (Sonoma County, CA) (88.36)
10) Longwood 2006 Shiraz $30 (McLaren Vale) (88.14)
11) Cambria 2005 Syrah “Tepusquet Vineyard” $19 (Santa Maria Valley, CA) (87.93)
12) Ross Estate 2006 Shiraz “Single Vineyard” $28 (Barossa Valley, Aust.) (87.86)
In our mini-tasting of additional Syrahs we recommended a few as well.
We thought the 2006 Brampton Shiraz $14 from South Africa was made in an Old World style. It opened with a smoky campfire like bouquet. It was medium-bodied and showed no hard edges. Its flavor profile was an austere oak influenced black raspberry. Neither the oak nor the fruit are dominant here. They are equal parts. The group thought this wine would pair nicely with beef brisket. We scored this wine Very Good with 88 points.
On the value side we found a Good Shiraz blend worth considering given its $12 price tag. The 2006 Pillar Box “Red” is a Good wine. We scored it 86 points. It is made from 50% Shiraz, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8% Merlot. If you like your everyday reds to be ripe and fruity, this wine might be the perfect option for you. Try it with a barbecue pulled pork sandwich and enjoy.
On the completely opposite end of the spectrum we tried two Collectible Shirazs that are worth noting. The first is the always impressive 2006 Shirvington Shiraz $75. We thought this wine was Excellent and we thought it was quite memorable. My client who we shared this with was still talking about it days later. We scored this wine 94 points. The other collectible Syrah that I wanted to mention was the 2005 Spring Mountain Syrah $55 from Napa Valley. This wine is consistently well made every year. This year we scored the 2005 vintage Very Good+ with 90 points.
All in all we were quite pleased with these tastings. In the main event, 12 out of 14 wines qualified as recommended. I personally think this grape is going to continue to grow in popularity. Cheers – Ken
I’d like to add that given the quality of some these wines I have tried, they are very reasonably priced.
Being South African it does me proud to know that South African wine is held in high regard. Great read!