Syrah. Not USA, Not Aussie, Not France.

[Clayton_Wai-Poi]

For New Zealand… focus on the Hawkes Bay region. Bilancia (suggested above) is a great selection, but also Craggy Range (Block 14 or Le Sol), Trinity Hill, Te Mata and Unison. Look for the 2007 vintage. Best buy of them all is the Craggy Range Block 14 2007.

[Jorge_Henriquez]

@wspohn

@Jorge Henriquez

@wspohn

One that no one has suggested yet - Chile.

Ummmm http://www.wineberserkers.com/viewtopic.php?p=358140#p358140" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oopsies. Sorry, Jorge, I skimmed that and missed the second part.

I am doing my annual terrine event at the end of the month and am thinking about matching two Syrahs with my mushroom rich terrine - maybe a Northern Rhone and now that we have been talking about it, perhaps a 2000 Montes Folly. It was pretty big and hearty when young but should have smoothed out some by now. If I match it with a mature Cornas, for example, things might work out well.

No prob Bill. Sounds yummy.

[mike_pobega]

Jorge. Yummy?

[Jorge_Henriquez]

@mike pobega

Jorge. Yummy?

Yummo? Oh wait, is this not Dick K’s thread? Sorry, my bad.

[wspohn]

At the risk of being convicted of thread-jacking, a quick question. If one were to match another non-French, non-US and (Heaven forfend) non-Aussie Syrah with a 2000 Montes Folly, preferably something that would neither overwhelm nor be overwhelmed by the Folly, what would you go for?

I have two candidates from the cellar, a 2000 Boekenhoutskloof (if you can’t say that three times quickly, you’ve had too much to drink) and a 2002 Planeta. I’d be inclined to go with the former. Both are very good.

[Billy_Weiss]

Chilean wines from the Elqui or Limari Valleys are a must.

[Roberto_Rogness]

We’ve had great response to cooler climate, more restrained bottlings from Argentina (Finca La Anita) and NZ (Fromm’s La Strada).

[scamhi]

Tua Rita makes a syrah.
Tua Rita Syrah…catchy name

[Jose_F_Rodriguez]

@Loren Sonkin

I think Finca Sandoval is now a GSM blend, but the old ones were mostly if not all Syrah IIRC.

Loren:

FWIW, Finca Sandoval is about 75% Syrah and the rest is Monastrell (Mourvèdre) and Bobal. Their second wine, Salia, is Syrah, Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) and Garnacha (Grenache).

SALUDos,
José

[Graeme_Gee]

@Clayton Wai-Poi

For New Zealand… focus on the Hawkes Bay region. Bilancia (suggested above) is a great selection, but also Craggy Range (Block 14 or Le Sol), Trinity Hill, Te Mata and Unison. Look for the 2007 vintage. Best buy of them all is the Craggy Range Block 14 2007.

Echo, echo, echo… someone stole my post!
G

[Rick_Gregory]

@Keith Levenberg

Graillot, the Rhone producer, makes a syrah from Morocco called “Syrocco.”

Which is really quite good. This showed up at the supermarket near me so I tried it last night. I’ll post a TN later, but it’s quite good and $18. Plus… dude… Moroccan wine.

[Guillaume_Deschamps]

@Keith Levenberg

Graillot, the Rhone producer, makes a syrah from Morocco called “Syrocco.”

I might be pointing out the obvious here but it’s a play on word on Sirocco, a “famous” (in France, at least) wind blowing from the Sahara towards the Mediterranean Sea.

Re: suggestions, I can’t remember a syrah from Argentina/Chile that was memorable. I would have said Switzerland too off the top of my head. Also from Sicily (e.g. Planeta to name a well-known one).

[Marc_Frontario]

Mike, here it is…2005 Eventide Shiraz from South Africa

It is phenomenal for the price. At 15 bones, It will hang with any of the fifty dollar shiraz. It possesses some bordeaux characteristics, some funk and old leather mit action. I couldn’t believe I scored this stuff discounted since no one purchases South African shiraz in Orlando. I picked a six pack for $8 bucks each. I laugh loudly everytime I pop one, wow.

As Ben Stiller says in Starsky and Hutch, “Do it…Do it!!”

[mike_pobega]

Thanks, all.
Now I have to figure what format to do. One from each country mentioned, different price points etc. Cool climate, warm climate oy vey!

Seems like some good stuff to work with though. Great info indeed!

Thanks again!!
(and keep it coming if you got more…)

[GregT]

Mike - time to expand your horizons (and taste some cool climate syrah).

Austria - find Paul Achs. One of the best from anywhere.

S. Africa - why they don’t rip up the Pinotage and grow syrah I don’t know.

Hungary - Can’t buy it in the US but I know where you might source a bottle. ROCKS!!! Chapoutier wanted to be introduced to the man who owned the vineyard.

Spain - Not necessarily cool climate but it now represents a huge percentage of total acreage

New Zealand - gotta include it because IMO the best syrah comes from PN areas, but I haven’t had a lot of GREAT syrah from NZ yet. However, may have a couple bottles.

Switzerland - OK, they shouldn’t be making wine at all. Stick to cheese but WTF.

Mexico - on second thought, scratch that.

Chile - one of their drinkable reds. Keep the cabs/merlots but the syrah is OK.

Italy - I think you’ve had Planeta? Not bad. There are others.

Croatia - they grow it and if I"m not mistaken, there is an importer. Worth checking.

Now the bitch session - you said not France, not US. France is about 200,000 sq miles. CA is about 180,000. So they’re roughly the same size. A better limit is thus to say not France and not CA, or if you prefer, not EUROPE and not US. Because Europe and the US are essentially both continents. But since France is about the size of a single state, it seems unfair to close out the entire US. In which case, what about WA? What about Colorado, Texas, New Mexico. Having tasted these wines, I promise they’re different as hell from what you might get from Santa Barbara!

Good tasting idea tho.

[Frank_Drew]

My two European favorites that aren’t from France are the already mentioned Finca Sandoval and Fabius, from the Brunello di Montalcino producer Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona.

[I was hugely disappointed to open a corked 2005 Finca Sandoval a week ago since that’s a vintage of theirs I like a great deal.]