Syrah/Shiraz

Syrah often tastes of black pepper, red currant, blackberry, tobacco, smoke, and sometimes even burnt rubber.  It is high in alcohol and tannins, and has moderate acidity.  Syrah is often aged in oak and is popular in the Rhône Valley and in the New World.

Good cheeses for Syrah include Double Gloucester, Cheddar, Dry Jack, and hard sheep's milk cheeses such as Zamorano.

Shiraz, Firefly, 2002  From Southeastern Australia.  $7.49 at Grapevine.  14% alcohol.  I bought this because I liked the bottle and it was cheap.  It is very simple with a lightening bug on it.  It says that it is night harvest -- the grapes are harvested in the cool night to preserve the fresh and bright fruit flavors.  It is called Firefly because there are a lot of fireflies in the bushlands in Australia.  It says that it can be enjoyed with  roasted meats, tomato based pasta, and mature cheddar.  Almost all the Shirazes said that they were good with cheese.  It smells thick and berry-ish like communion wine.  I get some anise and blackberries.  It is a little sweet and very very fruity.  It doesn't have a lot of tannins.  It is a little thick and fruity for my tastes.  It is very soft.  It's good for a sipping wine or a food wine.  http://www.fireflywine.com 

Shiraz, Jacob's Creek  $9.49 at Twin Liquors.  I had this wine with Piper and Alpha.  I tried it with Pecorino Re Nero and it was good.  

Shiraz, McPherson, with Arina Goat Gouda.  Sweet and nutty!  Excellent!  

Shiraz, McPherson with Farmhouse cheddar.  This was good, but it looks like I didn’t have a lot to say about it.  

Shiraz, McPherson with Majorero.  This was good, but the wine made the cheese taste a little fishy, or vice versa.  

Shiraz, Paringa 2002 (Tasted in 2003) From Australia. 14% alcohol. $9.50 at Grapevine. It is made near they River Murray area which is influenced by water, soil, and sunshine. Lush fruit flavor. Touch of oak. Firm, clean finish. http://www.gratefulpalate.com. The smell is subtle, but fruit-forward. Dark berries and licorice. It tastes wild and gamy. Peggy says it tastes like the pacific ocean, like the air right above the water. She says it tastes like the air in the Philippines and elsewhere in the Pacific -- the salty sea air you breathe when you are driving a ship across the Pacific.

Paringa with Grafton 4 Star Cheddar. Great, nutty, mellow, almost tropical cheese. The cheese tames the fruit in the wine. Great aftertaste of fruit and nuts. The cheese is also salty, but is very solid. Nevertheless, it melts in your mouth. Salty cheese and salty sea air. Tangy fruit flavor. My friend thinks that the Vermont Cheddar is picking up ocean air from the Atlantic and the Shiraz is picking up air from the Pacific.

Shiraz/Cab, Penfold's Rawson's Retreat 2002, Shiraz Cabernet blend from Southeast Australia  $9 at Whole Foods.  14% alcohol.  This vineyard was established in 1844 by Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold.  Shiraz 65%, Cabernet Sauvignon 35%.  The Shiraz is supposed to have warmth and spice, and the Cabernet, fruity richness.  I can't tell what the fruit smell is.  It smells like some weird fruit, like maybe blackberries.  It also smells a little like some unidentified red fruit, so maybe that is the red currant.  I have no idea.  Maybe it is cherries.  I think it may be more blackberries and cherries mixed together.  I definitely taste cherries in this.  It is spicy and lively, and the finish is very fruity, and then a little dry.  This is good. (See the other Penfolds Shiraz blend under Other Reds. 

Shiraz/cab Penfold's with Queso al Pimenton.  Great!  Surprisingly.  I didn't think this wine would go with a goat cheese.  The wine is fruity and a little spicy.  The cheese really brings out the flavors in the wine -- spice.  Very lively wine.  I like the creamy, semi-soft texture with the full wine.

Shiraz, Redbud 2002 (Tasted in 2005)  $5.99 on sale at World Market. 14.5% alcohol. California. The label reads: "Redbud Shiraz is a medium-bodied shiraz with ripe berry flavors, notes of lavender and chocolate, and a vanilla oak finish. It's a great companion to grilled burgers, barbecue ribs or pasta with Italian sausage." When I first bought this, I felt like it was all fruity, but not spicy enough. Then I kept going back and getting more because it was so easy on the palate and also seemed to work really well with Asian foods. They were also right about it going with pasta and Italian sausage, though I do prefer spicier Italian wines for that. It is a dark, dense purple color. It does definitely have a lot of berries up front and then a light chocolate and floral taste. Medium body, but not too light. It is velvety.

Redbud with Smoked Mozzarella. I am only trying this together because it happens to be on my plate. It goes ok, though the smoke makes the wine taste too tangy. The cheese is overpowering.

*Redbud with Grafton 1 year Cheddar. Gorgeous together! The nutty cheese brings out that chocolate flavor in the wine, and then I taste nuts again. Oops. Too bad the bottle is gone or I would keep eating this. That was a wonderful pairing. The cheese was the perfect age -- not too sharp. I don't think a British Cheddar would do this wine justice.

Shiraz, Woop Woop 2002  Australia. About $14 at Wiggy's. 14.5 % alcohol. It is supposed to be a soft, elegant wine wiht rich flavors and good palate length. Dark and dense. It smells like anise and tart fruit. It has a little bit of anise taste. Some wood, pine, oak, tobacco. Not too smoky. It tastes like an unlit cigarette. It has a very rich fruit flavor. The fruit is probably It is a very soft and smooth wine, but also thick. It doesn't taste too burning like high alcohol, but it is very high in alcohol. 

Woop Woop with Cave Aged Gruyère. This is good together at first because both are so fruity. Then I taste something rotten that is also bitter. In the finish, there is more fruit, but it is like fruit that has gone bad. These are minor faults, though. I like the way the nuttiness of the cheese carries through.

Woop Woop with Swiss Antique Gruyère. I like this pairing better than the Cave Aged, though the Cave Aged stood up better to the wine. It is a little bitter, but the spices and tingly feelings in the wine stand out better with this cheese. Also, this cheese tastes saltier and less fruity than the Cave Aged. I like this Gruyère better with the Woop Woop, but the Cave Aged had more interesting levels, even if not always pleasurable.

Woop Woop with Leerdammer. Surprisingly, this is good together! I figured the wine would kill the cheese, but somehow the cheese lasts through the length of the wine. It tastes creamy from the sweet milk, and tingly from the fruit in the wine. It is sweet and tart. I like the cream and fruit together. I can't believe these go together, especially given how tobacco-y the wine tasted.. 

Woop Woop with Maytag blue. It is ok. It doesn't blend as well as the Leerdammer and Woop Woop, but it is ok for a blue. The cheese is salty and spicy, which is good with the thick fruit in the wine.

Woop Woop with Roncal. This cheese is very grassy. This is interesting together. The wine really magnifies the grassy flavor of the cheese. It is a little bitter, but interesting. The cheese definitely stands up to the wine. It is still a little too bitter for me. It's ok, but not great.

Shiraz Yalumba 2003 (Tasted in 2005) $8.99 at World Market. 13.5% alcohol. Yalumba is supposed to be Australia's oldest family owned winery. "Aromas of stewed plums, red berries, and spice integrated with subtle American oak. The palate is soft and mouth-filling with a rich texture." South Australia is warmer and produces lush wines. I don't know what to make of this wine. When I first opened it, it was a little biting. It almost tasted too acidic for what I was expecting. Then, after a few hours, it took on some chocolate flavors and something cherry-ish that almost reminded me of a Sangiovese. It is also spicy and smoky, but not as much as some overdone Australian Shirazes. It is pleasant, but confusing.

Shiraz Yalumba with Crottin de Chavignol. Never in a million years would I put these two together, but I recently had surprising luck with this goat nugget from France. It usually pairs up with Sauvignon Blanc, but lately, it has found some interesting bedfellows. Very good. The acidity in the Shiraz works well with the cheese, but I lose something in the wine. The fruit is not so apparent. Still, for putting a white wine cheese with a red, this is great. This cheese is just cheddary enough to work with the wine and also be interesting.

*Shiraz Yalumba with Lincolnshire Poacher. This is a British Cheddar style of cheese. Boy is this good! The cheese is super salty, grassy, and firm, and it really makes the fruit in the wine shine. At first the wine seemed a little too tart for what it was supposed to be, but with this cheese, it is perfect. The wine is truly elegant. Who needs honey-roasted salted peanuts when you have a pairing like this?

Yellow Tail Shiraz 2002 Tasted in 2003. $7-8 at the grocery store. 13.5% alcohol. It has a picture of a kangaroo on the label. The label says "The Shiraz bounds forward from the glass with berry and vanilla oak aromas." It also is supposed to have subdued earthy tones with soft, ripe sweetness and fine tannins. It will go well with pasta, steak or even a fillet of kangaroo steak. It smells like alcohol and ripe grapes, which is what it is, I guess. It smells very ripe. It is also very smooth with light tannins at the end. I taste a little wood. It is a very soft wine with nice little tannins. I can't really see it going with steak.

Yellow Tail Shiraz with Cabot Private Stock Aged Cheddar. These are great together. They taste like butterscotch together. I like all the fruit with this sharp cheese. I like the sharpness and milkiness of the cheese with the soft fruit. This is yummy.

Yellow Tail Shiraz with 3 month Manchego. This Manchego is milder than most. This is good, like strawberries and cream together. The wine overpowers the cheese a little, but they are good together. It's good with the wine, but you have to sit and think about them to notice the good flavor. It's kind of nice, though, because they are both so soft. I'd like a 12 month or a Campo de Montalban better with this wine.

Yellow Tail Shiraz with Sweet Grass Tomme. This cheese has gotten a little old, even though I just bought it the other day. These are nasty together. I think the cheese is too earthy tasting for this delicate wine. It tastes like dirt instead of wood.

Syrah Sirrah, Bonny Doon Blagueur 2003 (Tasted in 2005) $9.99 at World Market. 13.5% alcohol. It is called Domaine des Blagueurs and has a very strange picture of a joker drinking wine on the label. Bonny Doon makes wines in CA. This wine is made in France in the Pays d'Oc. The label says that it straddles the north and south of France and "dialectically bridges rusticity and sophistication." It is unfiltered and is supposed to taste like white pepper, anise, and cassis. http://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com It is a dark, almost black, red color. It has a very fruity nose with a lot of blackberry, currants, and licorice. It tastes like a full-bodied French country wine. It has some of that garrigue flavor going on and a smoky finish with some flavors of light blood. It is very earthy.

Syrah Sirrah with Tour de Marze. Not so great. It's not so bad, though. The cheese is mild enough not to overpower the wine, but it leaves a bitter aftertaste and the styles just don't mesh.

Syrah Sirrah with Irish Dubliner. Grassy, but pretty mild Cheddar. Very nice together. The cheese brings out the garrigue in the wine and tones down some of the wild tasting fruit.

Syrah, Cline California 2001 (Tasted in 2004) About $11 at Vincent's in Birmingham, Alabama. 14% alcohol. Syrah originated in the Rhone Valley in France and is now widely planted in other regions of France, Italy, Australia, and California. This wine is supposed to be a great blend of fruit from the warm growing areas of Lodi and Contra Costa County and cool climate Sonoma County where the grapes struggle to ripen. The result is a wine of surprising complexity. It is supposed to have black cherry flavors, but I taste more blackberry and black currant. Definitely dark fruit. It is a slightly clear, dark garnet color. Vanilla and light wood aromas. I smell strong alcohol and mint. It is much thinner than the Australian Shiraz. It is less jammy. Smoky tannins. Peppery with good acidity. It has a smoke/chocolate/leather flavor that I can't quite determine. Rustic and dry. Great, very interesting, and complex. I like drinking this a lot, but it feels like it needs food. I think this would be good with Vella Dry Jack, especially an extremely aged one.

Cline Syrah with Old Amsterdam aged gouda. Salty, nutty, robust cheese with a woody quality. My favorite! I heard these two were supposed to be good together -- Syrah and aged Gouda. They are, though I really feel it might be more suited for a Dry Jack type. The wood and nuts are very good together. It's nice. Both the wine and the cheese are somewhat rustic. The astringency in the wine distracts me some from the cheese, but the flavor of the chocolate in the wine really comes out when I add this dark-tasting, nutty cheese.

Cline Syrah with Eichten's Hidden Acres Aged Tilsit, 7 years old. This was not as good as I had hoped. I thought the spice and the aged cheese would be nice together, but the wine was too tannic for it (maybe needed to be softer fruit) and was also not fruit-forward enough for my tastes with this cheese. It worked. It was passable, but the fruitier Petite Sirah worked out better.

Syrah, Liberty Hill 2000 $11.25 at Austin Wine Merchant. This is from Paso Robles, CA in the central coast. The label has a pretty painting of an old white schoolhouse out in a bushy field. I guess the bushes are rows of vines. This Syrah should have a floral nose and soft berry qualities 00 a good everyday kind of wine. Their Syrah is a rich, full-bodied wine with intense color. I would like to try this with Vella Dry Jack. It is aged 100% American oak, 20-30% of which is new. This grape is supposed to do well in California's central coast where there is "chalk rock," which yields rich wines full of character. These soils give the wine a round, smooth, seamless mouthfeel. Nose of blackberry, smoked meats, and black currants. Palate of ripe dark cherries, exotic berries, and black pepper. The Syrah vines at Treana Estates are direct descendents of clones of French Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Hermitage. http://www.treana.com. This wine is dark purple, almost black. It smells sweet and meaty, almost like BBQ sauce. It is spicy, thick, and smooth. It tastes rich and wild. The tingly pepper notes make it seem like it is ready to just break loose. Full-bodied. I tried this wine with calf fries (beef testicles) and believe it or not, it overpowered them!

Liberty Hill with Capriole Mont St. Francis. This is about the hardest goat cheese I have ever tasted, and boy is it goaty! It tastes smoky. Horrible together. It is bitter and tastes like what I imagine goat pee tastes like. The wine turns metallic. This is really really bad. Will not try again to re-evaluate. 

Liberty Hill with Quebec Vintage Cheddar. Wow, this is great. The Vella Dry Jack was so wonderful with this wine, I figured nothing else would work, but this is excellent. The Cheddar, just like with the Dry Jack, makes the wine taste tarter. It reminds me of strawberries and cherries with this cheese. The wine brings out a woody flavor in the cheese. They taste great together in my mouth, but at the end, the cheese wins out and lingers. It is still a good pairing, like putting Cheddar on a hamburger. 

Liberty Hill with Vella Dry Jack. Britt at Austin Wine Merchant said these two would be good together. This cheese is tangy and chocolate-y. Delicious! This wine sure does bring out the chocolate in the cheese. The cheese makes the wine taste even fruitier, but I also think the cheese tames the wine and brings out a tartness. 

Liberty Hill with Tilsit from Eichten Farms. This Tilsit tastes more like a sharp Cheddar or an aged Gouda than a Tilsit. It is delicious. Yum! This cheese tastes rich, but cool. The wine is fruity and lightly spicy. These are really nice together, but they kind of just sit next to each other and don't do much, but they are still excellent, both being all rich. Also, the cheese has salt crystals in it and the wine tastes like pepper, so it's the perfect salt and pepper mixture. 

Liberty Hill with Zamorano. This is good. I like the sheep with the lush red wine. The cheese tastes sweet and creamy. The wine is rich and fruity. The wine is not too tannic. I love this together. They do a lot for each other. They seem to just blend together and bring out the strong flavors in each other without being overpowering either way. I get such nice ripe fruit and thick cream. The milk in the cheese shines through. Too bad I ate the entire Zamorano or else I would have some more. 

Syrah, Maison St. Nicolas and Winchester jalapeno gouda.  This was surprisingly good.  I’d almost say delicious.  You eat a bite of cheese and the peppers coat your mouth.  Then you drink a little of the young, fruity wine and it just blends into smooth peppers, fruit, and alcohol.  It’s not too bitter.  I think the peppers cut out the bitterness.

Syrah, Ventana 2001 (Tasted in 2004) Monterey Arroyo Seco Appellation. $14.99 at Tuscany. 13% alcohol. Patrick at Tuscany said that this had more of a Côte Rôtie rustic style, not typical of CA. You can taste blueberries, but you have to chew on it a while to get the fruit. The label reads: "Big, bold, rich and thick -- cold climate black peppered Syrah long-aged in prized Minnesota Oak is -- in our opinion -- the finest red wine at table. The flavors marry with and elevate too many foods to mention. Our family's favorite red wine. Enjoy!"  http://www.ventanawines.com. It is dark and thick. It smells like blueberries, plums, and blackberries. Tart and lush. Dry, definitely peppery, a little bitter, coffee, The website says that it has 68% acidity and has been aged in French and American oak for 12 months. Very fruity, lush, long-lasting finish. Wood and outdoorsy tastes like smoke. The fruit is delicious. It is complex and has a lot going on, but it is also rich and smooth. Very mouth-filling.

Ventana Syrah with Gouda, Yellow Wax. This is good. The pepper really comes out in the cheese. I like the Vintage Irish Cheddar pairing with it the best. I like the sharp, spicy, sweet, nutty flavor that comes out in this pairing. I am not so wild about the bitter finish. 

Ventana Syrah with Grafton 4 Star Cheddar. This Cheddar is good with it, but I think that the Cheddar is too sharp and takes away some of the nice spice in the wine. They don't quite blend together like with with the Vintage Irish Cheddar. The cheese is so salty tasting that it doesn't go well with this.

Ventana Syrah with Malga. Herbed and mint-rubbed cheese that has been soaked in Prosecco. Really really bad. This was the pits. This was so bad, I don't even know what to say. I think this cheese is best kept with a white wine. Bitter and rancid tasting. It wasn't the cheese's or the wine's fault. It's just not good together.

Ventana Syrah with Pecorino with Walnut Leaves. Awful and bitter. The cheese was just nasty and gritty.

*Ventana Syrah with Vintage Irish Cheddar. Wonderful! Nutty cheese, fruity wine. The wine makes the cheese taste really mellow. It's a mild pairing. The spicy wine is good with the sharp cheese, but neither is too sharp or too spicy. There is also a really nice chocolate flavor with these two. Nice mellow pairing. Overall impression, is mellow but interesting, nutty, and chocolatey. Well-balanced pairing, though sometimes the wine almost seems stronger. It's still really good.

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