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Known for its ripe, generously flavoured wines,
the McLaren Vale region produces rich, chocolate and berry flavoured
Cabernet; juicy Grenache from old vines and some wonderful Merlots.
However undoubtedly, it is the regions densely coloured, full bodied
Shiraz wines that have captured the worlds imagination.
A Brief History of Shiraz
Shiraz has become
the grape that is synonymous with the Australian wine industry driving
much of the international wine market to the point where Australian
wine exports are now approximately two billion dollars per annum. This
has caused much anxiety amongst the French who are now facing a bitter
reality. Their ‘sovereignty’ over the world’s wine territory
has been challenged, and not only by Australia. Between 1990-2000 the
French wine market share has dropped from 49% to 22%. Charges from all
directions incited the French ministry of Agriculture to action, compiling
an eighty-page report calling for sweeping change. The author of the
report, Jacques Berthomean stated that: "Until recent years wine
was us. We were the centre, the unavoidable reference point. Today the
Barbarians are at our gates." Wine lore has it that Shiraz (also
known as Syrah, Sirrahs, Ciras, Scyras) was taken from Persia to France
by the Phoenicians. However, research by scholars Dr.Carole Meridith
of the University of California Davis and Jean Michel Boursiquot of
the Wine Institute in Montpellier, France have determined that Shiraz
is indigenous to the Rhone Region of France. DNA sequencing indicates
that Shiraz is a descendent of two little known French grape varieties,
Durela and Mondeuse Blanc, and has been grown in the Rhone Valley since
500 B.C.
Shiraz was first brought
to Australia in 1832 by James Busby, unwittingly with the help and co-operation
of the French themselves. Busby left Australia in February 1831 and
arrived in the Rhone Valley on the 10th of December. He recorded his
trip in the ‘Journal of a Tour’ published in 1833 and wrote
of the hospitality and generosity of information that French vignerons
eagerly passed on: "I had no advisers…I uniformly prefaced
my request for information with a statement of the object for which
it was required. So far however, from having been in any one instance
at all deceived or mislead. I have found every person to whom I applied
anxious to forward my undertaking." So it was indeed thanks to
the co-operation of the French, that Australia owes much of its present
success. If the French knew that their wisdom, knowledge (as well as
their Shiraz cuttings) were being placed at the feet of Barbarians,
perhaps they would not have been so obliging. What a remarkable twist
of fate!
Shiraz
in other areas of the world
Shiraz is sometimes called Hermitage in Australia, but should not be
confused with the Hermitage in South Africa which is really Cinsault.
The Petite Sirah of California is also a different variety, Durif, which
comes from the same part of France where it has occasionally been incorrectly
called Petite Syrah. There has been a dramatic increase in the area
planted to Syrah in France, from 2700 ha in 1968 to 27,000 ha in 1988,
mainly to add character to wines based on Grenache or Carignan. There
were just over 6000 ha of Shiraz in Australia in 1992. A little is grown
in Tuscany in Italy and over 1000 ha in Argentina. There are about 500
ha of true Shiraz in South Africa.
Shiraz
Viticultural Characteristics
Shiraz is a vigorous variety with a spreading habit of growth. It has
medium, 5-lobbed leaves, somewhat rough and undulating, with tufted
hairs on the lower surface. The bunches are characteristically long
and cylindrical with long stalks, rather loose, with small to medium
oval berries which tend to wilt as soon as they are ripe, becoming more
difficult to harvest mechanically.
In Australia, Shiraz has proved to be a very versatile variety. It is
grown in all viticultural areas and used for all types of red wines.
It is sometimes used alone but is often blended with other red varieties.
-Reference: Wine Grape Varieties – Shiraz
p.145
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The Fox Creek Reserve
Shiraz stands as one of McLaren Vales finest expressions of the
style.
An awesome wine, now in its eighth vintage. It has great depth of
colour, aroma and flavour typical of the best wines of the McLaren
Vale region. The wine has an extraordinary range of flavours including
blackberry, blackcurrant, licorice and dark chocolate with an exceptionally
long finish.
It all began when a
group of medicos decided to realize a lifelong passion - creating
a wine in one of South Australia’s top wine regions. Between
their families and themselves, Fox Creek Wines was born. When Jim
and Helen Watts bought the 32 hectare Fox Creek Vineyard property
in 1984, they were advised against planting vines as the soils were
heavy clay. Undeterred by the sceptics, they selected and planted
cuttings and nurtured the young vines. Their labours bore fruit
- extraordinary quality fruit - that was lovingly converted into
wines of exceptional quality.
Winemaker, Dan Hill.
Leader of the pack and the first wine made at Fox Creek was their
1994 Shiraz, which won the Trophy for the best wine at the McLaren
Vale Wine Show in 1995. In the past seven years since Fox Creek
was established, many of these wines have been recognized by being
awarded both Trophies and Gold Medals from National and Regional
Wine Shows.
The Fox Creek Vineyards, winery and nineteenth century stone Cellar
Door cottage are found between the villages of McLaren Vale and
Willunga in the centre of the Vale. The grounds are beautiful with
a lake, water birds, ancient large eucalypts and olives adjacent
to the bridge which crosses Fox Creek on the way to the cottage.
19th Century cellar door at Fox Creek.
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