ust a couple of days ago, 24th of July to be exact, was International Shiraz Day. It’s perhaps not immediately clear why this should be so when we have International Syrah Day on February 16th. Shiraz is the Australian name for Syrah, a bold and flavourful red wine grape noted for its rich fruit and spice aromas and flavours, which does well both in warmer and cooler climates. The Syrah grape, a cross between Red Dureza from the Ardeche region of France and Mondeuse Blance an old Savoie variety became established in the Northern Rhone from Roman times. Cuttings were taken to Australia by James Busby, probably from Montpellier in 1832. The Busby collection had handwritten labels which said Scyras and Ciras which somehow became transliterated to Shiraz, and possibly associated with the Persian city of the same name, which did actually have wines called Shiraz, although these were almost certainly not made from Syrah.
Shiraz grapes in NSW Australia’s Hunter Valley
The grape expresses quite differently in the warmer Australian climates from the Northen Rhone expression which is typically more floral, more red-fruited, has more pepper spice, is lower in alcohol and higher in acidity. In Australia, the grape lends to a richer more full-bodied, higher alcohol wine with sweet dark blackberry and plum fruit, chocolate and softer brown baking spices rather than pepper. Today the name Shiraz is more or less synonymous with this richer weightier wine style which has also become popular in other warm New World locations particularly South Africa and California.
Of course this is a vast over-simplification. There are 40 regions in Australia that produce good Shiraz and they all have different climates and produce different styles. Indeed there are individual wineries in some regions that now prefer to label their wine “Syrah” because they are producing a more cool-climate, lighter and more elegant style of Shiraz. One thing is clear: Shiraz is still the most widely planted and produced Australian grape variety, and even though the Australian industry is in a current over-production crisis, Australian Shiraz is a generous and people pleasing wine enjoyed all over the world – even in places like my home New Zealand which pride themselves on the quality of our cooler climate Syrah.
This week also saw announcement of the Penfolds 2025 Collection release which will be available from August 7th. This was fittingly reported by Jancis Robinson on 24 July, as well as by James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion, fittingly because arguably no single wine company has done more to place Australian Shiraz on the World Stage. Penfolds was ranked in the World’s top three most admired wine brands in 2024 and in 2016 and 2019 took the top spot. No one wine tells this story more than Penfolds Grange, a Shiraz dominant multi-site red blend which is one of the world’s great collectable wines. The 2021 Grange included in the 2025 Penfolds Collection was rated 18.5 ++ by Jancis, an eyewatering score from the renowned hard marker and its recommended retail price a similarly eyewatering $A1,000!
The entry level Koonunga Hill Shiraz will be familiar to many but the Penfolds Shiraz magic begins with the Australia Collection Bins Series in the two contrasting Bin 28 South Australia Shiraz and the Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz. The Bin 28 ‘Kalimna’ Shiraz is named after the famous Barossa Valley Kalimna vineyard from which it was originally sourced. Nowadays it’s a blend, with the highest proportion from Barossa but other portions from Padthway and McLaren Vale. It showcases warm climate Australian Shiraz and is typically ripe, full-bodied and richly flavoured. The Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz is made from fruit grown on the unique terra rossa red-clay-over-limestone Coonawarra soil, and is more classically cool-climate in style, producing elegant, fragrant medium-bodied wines. Jancis rates both the Kalimna and the Coonawarra new releases a solid 17 and “good value”.
Barossa Shiraz might be what the world knows as the quintessence of Australian Shiraz, but my first acquaintance with Australian Shiraz was from the Hunter Valley on my very first trip to Australia in 1987. NSW was actually the birthplace of Australian wine and the Hunter Valley just two hours north of Sydney is by normal measures quite unsuitable for growing grapes with its sub-tropical and very humid climate. In fact, Hugh Johnson describes it as the “triumph of proximity over suitability”. Nonetheless Shiraz has successfully taken, particularly to the red volcanic soils of part of the Hunter on higher ground, especially around Pokolbin and these were the first Australian Shiraz wines I ever tried: medium-bodied, soft, earthy and red-fruited, but distinctively spicy and long.
So, for the purposes of this blog and to jointly celebrate International Shiraz Day and the 2025 Penfolds release, I decided we should open two suitably different Shiraz wines tonight from my cellar over dinner with my South African friend and Shiraz lover, Calixte. The wines: Tyrrells 2017 Hunter Valley Shiraz, and Penfolds 2018 Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz. Tyrrells is one of the great, still family owned Hunter wineries with an illustrious history extending back to 1858 when Edward Tyrrell first arrived from England and took up his 320 acre concession in the Hunter Valley and planted the first Shiraz. Their Hunter Valley 2017 Shiraz won Gold in the Hunter Valley Wine Show and is a modestly priced Shiraz from 40-year-old vines designed for early drinking. Fermented in traditional open top vats and then matured in older large format French oak casks which encourage the fruit to shine without overt oak influence. The Penfolds Bin 28 is a step up – whilst still approachable in its youth, it is made to reward cellaring for 15-20 years plus.
Calixte and I with the Tyrell’s Hunter Valley Shiraz in our glasses
I expected a stark contrast in the two wines and was not disappointed. On first evaluation by sight alone the Hunter Valley was clearly lighter than the South Australian Kalimna. Calixte commented that the Tyrrells colour reminded him more of an Otago Pinot Noir than the big rich Shiraz styles he was used to, and which the Penfolds clearly typified. The Penfolds was much darker, more inky purple black against the more ruby Tyrrells as the photo demonstrates.
The two wines side by side in bottle and glass
The Hunter Valley wine had lovely red berry aromas with some hints of violets, star anise and black pepper. On the palate, medium-bodied with juicy red plum and loganberry flavours with a savoury edge, silky tannins and a long slightly mineral-edged finish. The way it continued to unfold and open up in the glass convinced me that despite it’s “early drinking” design, the wine has not yet peaked and will reward modest further cellaring of perhaps 3-5 years. A delicious and elegant exemplar of Hunter Valley Shiraz at a price point accessible to all.
My initial impression of the South Australian Bin 28 was the American oak, quite overt coconut notes on the nose which for me overpowered the ripe blackberry and Doris plum fruit. On the palate soft, rich and full-bodied with blueberry and ripe blackberry fruit, soft tannins and a long, brown baking spice-edged finish. This also improved with time in the glass, the oak becoming less overt, dark fruit, chocolate and cloves more to the fore. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t have at least another 15-20 years of life in it, but I preferred the Hunter Valley wine for current drinkability. Still I am pleased to have a couple more bottles in the cellar and hope to be around to test them in another 10-15 years!
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