Chacun Son Vin - Awards - 2018 NWAC Syrah/Shiraz

Results of the 2018 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Syrah/Shiraz

Category overview by judge and panel leader John Szabo, MS

Syrah/shiraz was re-established as one of the most exciting categories in Canadian wine at the 2018 National Awards, earning an unprecedented number of platinum (Note: Platinum medal winners will be announced on Friday), gold and silver medals, in addition to inspiring some of the most animated discussions and palpable enthusiasm from judges.

It is by now abundantly clear that the variety excels in particular in the southern Okanagan and Similkameen valleys, where a combination of scruffy, rocky-sandy soils and extreme, dessert-like climate conspires to yield structured and spicy wines dripping with character.

Ontario, too, has its vineyards of vocation, found predominantly along the Niagara Escarpment, especially the notably warmer St. David’s Bench sub-appellation, and those sited on the heavy red clays of the Lincoln Lakeshore sub-appellation, which are apt to deliver dense and meaty examples.

The stylistic line between shiraz and syrah has become terminally blurred, with a notable decrease of excessively lean and leafy Ontario wines (the syrah vines in the wrong places were mostly culled by the brutal winters of ’15 and ’16), and the overly “Barossa-fied” oaky, raisined and alcoholic shirazes once prevalent in the Okanagan. The happy milieu is simply excellent, meaty, spicy, peppery-smoky, dark-fruit flavoured wines of balance, structure and ageability. The choice to use one-or-the-other synonym for the grape is thus driven more by the marketing department, rather than a winemaker’s stylistic leaning.

Worth pointing out, especially to syrah/shiraz producers, is the judges’ perennial admiration for Le Vieux Pin’s Cuvée Violette, a gold medal winner last year and a platinum winner in 2018 (Ok, we’ll give you this one. It is currently tagged as a Gold and will change to Platinum on Friday when we announce all the Platinum winners). I’d consider it a bellwether of successful styling; as the winery’s “entry level” (least expensive) syrah, it’s an indication that less really can be more. In this case less wood and less concentration equal more freshness, crunchy fruit, and especially more of the grape’s haunting floral-violet perfume, an irresistible combination of complexity and drinkability.

And as a consumer bonus, syrah’s deficiency in cabernet or pinot noir-like name brand recognition means that it’s generally less expensive than either of those latter varieties, while over-delivering on character and personality. Get it before everyone else figures it out.

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Daydreamer 2016 Amelia, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Deep Roots 2016 Syrah, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Le Vieux Pin 2016 Syrah Cuvee Violette, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Redstone 2014 Redstone Vineyard Syrah, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

Thornhaven 2015 Syrah, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

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