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The Shiraz grape originated in the Northern Rhone region of France and is known there as Syrah. Now widely grown throughout the world the variety was introduced into Australia in 1832. Shiraz is the most popular Australian red wine variety today and also gave Australian wine making its first international recognition back in 1878 at the Paris Exhibition.

Despite this shiraz was mainly used for making fortified wine until the mid 1900s when red table wine gained enormous popularity and even then cabernet sauvignon was the red wine of choice. In the 1970s in South Australia a government scheme was implemented to replace old shiraz vines with with the increasingly fashionable chardonnay. Fortunately some old shiraz vines survived.

Popularity overseas and a growing export market for Australian wines saw a resurgence in plantings of shiraz in the 1980s and 90s.

Best known are the full bodied, high alcohol, soft tannin wines of the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. Shiraz can be made into a good, ready to drink wine or one of real complexity and character after 10 years in the cellar. Our most famous wine the Penfolds Grange is of course made almost completely with shiraz.