Editing Syrah (section)

== History ==
=== Origin ===
Syrah has a long documented history in the [[Rhône]] region of southeastern France, but it was not known if it had originated in that region.

A 1998 study conducted by [[Carole Meredith]]'s research group in the [[UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology|Department of Viticulture and Enology]] at [[University of California, Davis]] used [[DNA typing]] and extensive grape reference material from [[École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier|the viticultural research station in Montpellier]], France to conclude that Syrah was the offspring of the grape varieties [[Dureza]] (father) and [[Mondeuse blanche]] (mother).<ref name="Syrah WW Origins">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tenimentidalessandro.it/en/download/SyrahENG.pdf |title=Syrah WORLDWIDE ROMA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108201113/http://www.tenimentidalessandro.it/en/download/SyrahENG.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.actahort.org/books/528/528_15.htm|pages=129–132|doi=10.17660/ActaHortic.2000.528.15|title=A Single Pair of Parents Proposed for a Group of Grapevine Varieties in Northeastern France|journal=Acta Horticulturae|id=Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Grapevine Genetics and Breeding|issue=528|year=2000|last1=Bowers|first1=J.E|last2=Siret|first2=R|last3=Meredith|first3=C.P|last4=This|first4=P|last5=Boursiquot|first5=J.-M|access-date=2008-02-15|archive-date=2018-06-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180601203352/https://www.actahort.org/books/528/528_15.htm|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>[http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v97/n2/full/6800842a.html Vouillamoz, J.F. and Grando, M.S. 2006. "Genealogy of wine grape cultivars: 'Pinot' is related to 'Syrah'", ''Heredity'' 97:102–110] Quote: "Our data strongly confirmed the 'Syrah' parentage ('Dureza' x 'Mondeuse blanche') established by Bowers et al."
</ref><ref name="oz_p_247">{{cite book |title=Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes |author=Oz Clark&Margaret Rand |publisher=Hardcourt, inc |year=2001 |pages=g 247 |isbn=978-0-15-100714-1}}</ref><ref name="OCW Syrah">Entry on ''"Syrah"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', Third Edition, pp. 676-677, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref>

[[File:Rhones Alpes region with Ardeche, Drome, Isere and Savoie highlighted.png|left|thumb|The [[Rhône-Alpes]] region. [[Dureza]] is believed to have originated in the [[Ardèche]] (#1) in the southwest and moved east/northeast into [[Drôme]] (#2) and [[Isère]] (#3). Somewhere in this area, most likely in Isère, the vine crossed with [[Mondeuse blanche]], a variety native to the [[Savoie]] region (#4), to produce Syrah.]]
Dureza, a dark-skinned grape variety from the [[Ardèche]] region in France, has all but disappeared from the vineyards, and the preservation of such varieties is a speciality of [[Montpellier]]. Mondeuse blanche is a white grape variety cultivated in the [[Savoie]] region, and is still found in small amounts in that region's vineyards today.

Both varieties are somewhat obscure today, and have never achieved anything near Syrah's fame or popularity, and there is no record of them ever having been cultivated at long distances from their present homes. Thus, both of Syrah's parents come from a limited area in southeastern France, close to northern Rhône. Based on these findings, the researchers have concluded Syrah originated from northern Rhône.<ref name="Syrah WW Origins" /><ref name="OCW Syrah" />

The DNA typing leaves no room for doubt in this matter, and the numerous other hypotheses of the grape's origin which have been forwarded during the years all completely lack support in the form of documentary evidence or [[ampelography|ampelographic]] investigations, be it by methods of classical [[botany]] or DNA.

Instead, they seem to have been based primarily or solely on the name or synonyms of the variety. Varying [[orthography]] for grape names render dubious any name-based evidence of origins. Nevertheless, origins such as [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] or the famous Iranian city of [[Shiraz]] had been proposed while the genomic studies had yet to be done.<ref name="OCW Syrah" />

The parentage information, however, does not reveal how old the grape variety is, i.e., when the pollination of a Mondeuse blanche vine by Dureza took place, leading to the original Syrah seed plant. In the year 77 CE, [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]]'' about the wines of [[Vienne, Isère|Vienne]] (which today would be called [[Côte-Rôtie]]), where the [[Allobroges]] made famous and prized wine from a dark-skinned grape variety that had not existed some 50 years earlier, in [[Virgil]]'s age.

<ref name="OCW Rhône">Entry on ''"Rhône"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', Third Edition, pp. 572-573, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref> Pliny called the vines of this wine ''Allobrogica'', and it has been speculated that it could be today's Syrah. However, the description of the wine would also fit, for example, Dureza,<ref name="Syrah WW Origins" /> and Pliny's observation that vines of Allobrogica were resistant to cold is not entirely consistent with Syrah.<ref name="OCW Rhône" />

=== The names Syrah and Shiraz===
[[File:Shiraz Grapes.jpg|thumb|right|Clusters of Syrah grapes]]

The grape's many other synonyms are used in various parts of the world, including ''Antourenein noir'', ''Balsamina'', ''Candive'', ''Entournerein'', ''Hignin noir'', ''Marsanne noir'', ''Schiras'', ''Sirac'', ''Syra'', ''Syrac'', ''Serine'', and ''Sereine''.<ref name="Jancis">Jancis Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wine'' p. 90, Octopus Publishing 1986 {{ISBN|978-1-85732-999-5}}.</ref>

Legends of Syrah's origins often connect it with the city of [[Shiraz]] in [[ancient Iran]].<ref name="OCW Shiraz">Entry on ''"Shiraz"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine'', Third Edition, p. 627, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref> The former capital of the [[Persian Empire]] under the [[Achaemenid dynasty]] produced the well-known [[Shirazi wine]],<ref name="OCW Persia">Entry on ''"Persia"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'', Third Edition, pp. 512–513, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref> and legends claim the original grape was later brought to the [[Rhône]].<ref name="OCW Persia"/> At least two significantly different versions of the myth are reported, giving different accounts of how the grape variety is supposed to have travelled, differing up to 1,800 years in dating the event.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> 

In one version, the [[Phocaeans]] could have brought Syrah to their colony around [[Marseille]], then known as [[Massilia]], an [[Greek colonisation|ancient Greek colony]] (''apoikia'') on the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean coast]], east of the Rhône, which was founded around 600 BCE by the [[ancient Greeks]].<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> The grape would then later have spread to the northern Rhône, which was never colonized by the Phocaeans.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> No documentary evidence exists to back up this legend, and it also requires the variety to later vanish from the Marseille region without leaving any trace.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/>

[[File:Syrah leaf.JPG|left|thumb|Syrah leaf]]
The legend connecting Syrah's origins with the city of [[Shiraz]] in [[ancient Iran]] may, however, be of French origin. [[James Busby]] wrote in his ''Journal of a recent visit to the principal vineyards of Spain and France'' an excerpt from the 1826 book ''Œnologie Française''; "according to the tradition of the neighbourhood, the plant [Scyras] was originally brought from Shiraz in Persia, by one of the hermits of the mountain" called Gaspare de Stérimberg.<ref name=jbjourn81>{{cite book |last=Busby |first=James |title=Journal of a recent visit to the principal vineyards of Spain and France |year=1834 |page=[https://archive.org/details/journalarecentv00busbgoog/page/n126 108] |publisher=Smith, Elder |url=https://archive.org/details/journalarecentv00busbgoog |quote=1826 scyras shiraz.}}</ref>

There is a connection between the name ''Syrah'' and the [[Persian language|Persian]] word "سیاه" (pronounced ''siah'' or ''syah'', meaning "black"). It refers to the origin of this grape, which comes from black grapes and shows connection between the city of Shiraz and this grape.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hugh |first=Johnson |title=The Story of Wine |publisher=Mitchell Beazley |year=2004 |isbn=1-84000-972-1 |edition=New Illustrated |pages=58 & p. 131}}</ref> Another legend of the grape variety's origin, based on the name ''Syrah'', is that it was brought from [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]] by the legions of [[Roman Emperor]] [[Marcus Aurelius Probus|Probus]] sometime after 280 CE.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/> This legend also lacks documentary evidence and is inconsistent with ampelographic findings.<ref name="OCW Rhône"/>

Another proposed etymology links it with the [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] word *''serra'' '[[billhook]]', presumably because the billhook was used in [[pruning]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.old-north.co.uk/Holding/celt_britlatin.html |title=The Old North |website=www.old-north.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.popular-babynames.com/name/syrah |title=NAMES - The Name Syrah : popularity, meaning and origin, popular baby names |website=Popular-BabyNames.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YN_YPQAACAAJ&q=%22proto+celtic%22%22serra%22 |title=Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic |first=Ranko |last=Matasović |date=February 11, 2009 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004173361 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

The name "Shiraz" has been used primarily in [[Australia]] in modern times, where it has long been established as the most grown dark-skinned variety. In Australia, it was also commonly called [[Hermitage AOC|Hermitage]] up to the late 1980s, but since that name became a French [[Protected Designation of Origin]], this naming practice caused a problem in some export markets and was dropped. The name "Scyras" was used to describe the grape in the earliest Australian documents, and "Shiraz" has been speculated (among others by [[Jancis Robinson]])<ref name="Jancis"/> to have come about through the "[[Strine|strinization]]" of the original word, a process of changing vowels as part of Australian slang. However, while the names "Shiraz" and "Hermitage" gradually replaced "Scyras" in Australia from the mid-19th century, the spelling "Shiraz" has also been documented in British sources back to at least the 1830s.<ref name=jbjourn81 /><ref name=gentmag1834>{{cite journal |journal=Gentleman's Magazine |volume=157 |last=Redding |first=Cyrus |title=History of Wines |date=July 1834 |pages=7–11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2OYNXvykVcC&q=%22Gentleman's%20Magazine%22%20%22Hermitage%20is%20grown%20from%20the%20Shiraz%20grape%20of%20Persia%22&pg=PA8}}</ref><ref name=crhist>{{cite book |last=Redding |first=Cyrus |title=A history and description of modern wines |year=1836 |page=20 |publisher=Whittaker & co. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zyxEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Hermitage%20is%20now%20produced%20from%20the%20Scyras%2C%20or%20Shiraz%22%20%22Cyrus%20Redding%22&pg=PA20}}</ref> So while the name or spelling "Shiraz" may be an effect of the [[English language]] on a French name, there is no evidence that it actually originated in Australia, although it was definitely the Australian usage and the Australian wines that made the use of this name popular.

=== Rise to fame ===
The wines that made Syrah famous were those from Hermitage, the hill above the town [[Tain-l'Hermitage]] in northern Rhône, where an [[Hermitage (religious retreat)|hermitage]] ([[chapel]]) was built on the top, and where De Stérimberg is supposed to have settled as a [[hermit]] after his crusades. Hermitage wines have for centuries had a reputation for being powerful and excellent. While Hermitage was quite famous in the 18th and 19th centuries, and attracted interest from foreign [[oenophile]]s, such as [[Bordeaux wine|Bordeaux]] enthusiast [[Thomas Jefferson]], it lost ground and foreign attention in the first half of the 20th century.<ref name="OCW Hermitage">Entry on ''"Hermitage"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', Third Edition, p. 344, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref>

In the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries, most Hermitage wine that left France did so as a blending component in Bordeaux wines. In an era when "[[claret]]s" were less powerful than today, and before appellation rules, red wines from warmer regions would be used for improvement (or [[adulteration]], depending on the point of view) of Bordeaux wines. While Spanish and Algerian wines are also known to have been used for this purpose, top Bordeaux châteaux would use Hermitage to improve their wines, especially in weaker vintages.<ref name="oz_p_247" /><ref name="OCW Adulteration and fraud">Entry on ''"Adulteration and fraud"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', Third Edition, pp. 4-5, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref>

=== Arrival in Australia ===
In 1831, the Scotsman [[James Busby]], often called "the Father of Australian viticulture", made a trip back to Europe to collect [[cuttings (vine)|cuttings]] from vines (primarily from France and [[Spain]]) for introduction to Australia.<ref name="OCW Busby">Entry on ''"Busby, James"'' in J. Robinson (ed), ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'', Third Edition, p. 116, Oxford University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-19-860990-6}}.</ref> One of the varieties collected by him was Syrah, although Busby used the two spellings "Scyras" and "Ciras". The cuttings were planted in the [[Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney|Royal Botanic Garden]], and in [[Hunter Valley]], and in 1839 brought from Sydney to [[South Australia]].<ref name="Syrah WW Austrlia">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tenimentidalessandro.it/eng/club/SyrahENG.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060512112058/http://www.tenimentidalessandro.it/eng/club/SyrahENG.pdf |url-status=dead |title=James Halliday: Syrah in Australia since 1800, pp. 10-14 in: The Syrah Producers' Club 19 April 2004 – Syrah Worldwide Roma |archivedate=May 12, 2006}}</ref> By the 1860s, Syrah was established as an important variety in Australia.

=== Modern history ===
Syrah continues to be the main grape of the northern Rhône and is associated with classic wines such as [[Hermitage AOC|Hermitage]], [[Cornas AOC|Cornas]] and [[Côte-Rôtie AOC|Côte-Rôtie]]. In the southern Rhône, it is used as a blending grape in such wines as [[Châteauneuf-du-Pape]], [[Gigondas AOC|Gigondas]] and [[Côtes du Rhône AOC|Côtes du Rhône]], where [[Grenache]] usually makes up the bulk of the blend. Although its best incarnations will [[aging wine|age]] for decades, less-extracted styles may be enjoyed young for their lively red and blueberry characters and smooth [[tannin (wine)|tannin]] structure. Syrah has been widely used as a blending grape in the red wines of many countries due to its fleshy fruit mid-palate, balancing the weaknesses of other varieties and resulting in a "complete" wine.

From the 1970s and even more from the 1990s, Syrah has enjoyed increased popularity, and plantings of the variety have expanded significantly in both old and new locations.<ref name="OCW Syrah" /> In the early 2000s, it broke into the top 10 of varieties planted worldwide for the first time.<ref name="OCW Vine varieties" />