The house grapes · red
Syrah or Shiraz: the same grape with two names
Syrah is a red grape that makes very dark wine, with ripe fruit, firm tannin and, often, a smell of black pepper. Shiraz is the same grape under another name: whether the label says one or the other, what's in the bottle is Syrah.
Where it comes from
Syrah is French, from the Rhône Valley, where it's the backbone of famous reds like Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. Its first written record dates from 1781, in Hermitage, spelled Sira.
For centuries, legends went around: that it had come from the city of Shiraz, in ancient Persia, brought back by the Crusaders, or from Syracuse, in Sicily. DNA debunked them all. In 1998, Carole Meredith, of the University of California, Davis, and Jean-Michel Boursiquot, of Montpellier, found its parents: Mondeuse Blanche, a white grape from Savoie, and Dureza, a red from the Ardèche. It's the offspring of two grapes from southeastern France, crossed by nature.
What it's like in the glass
Dark color, almost opaque. Ripe dark fruit (blackberry, plum, jam), sometimes black olive, and the signature: black pepper. The tannin is firm and the body, full. It's a red to go with a meal, not for nibbling.
Climate changes its style. In the heat and poor soils of Alentejo, the region's wine commission describes huge Syrahs: lots of fruit, some pepper, a robust body, sometimes high alcohol. Aged in barrels, it picks up vanilla, chocolate and a smoky touch.
What it pairs with
Syrah's pepper calls for food with personality: slow-cooked beef ribs, cupim (the Brazilian hump cut), lamb, sausage, carne de sol (sun-dried beef) with cassava, baião de dois (rice and beans from the Northeast). Barbecue with chimichurri is almost cheating. A fruitier Syrah, with little oak, goes with pepperoni pizza and even feijoada. These are suggestions: it's worth testing with what you like.
Where it shines today
It's one of the most traveled grapes in the world: in 2015, the OIV counted 190,000 hectares in 31 countries. In Australia, where it's called Shiraz, it's the most planted grape. In Argentina, the INV counted 10,420 hectares in 2024, the country's fourth red, three quarters of it in Mendoza. In Chile there were 5,745 hectares (SAG, 2024), and Wines of Chile highlights Elqui, in the north, and San Antonio, near the sea.
In Portugal, it's the seventh most planted variety on the mainland, with about 6,500 hectares (IVV, 2025): the second in Lisboa and the third in Alentejo, where it goes into blends more than on its own.
In Brazil, it's the grape of the “winter wines”. With double pruning, a technique developed by Epamig in the early 2000s, the harvest moves from January–March, the rainy season, to June–August, when it's drier. Syrah was studied this way in southern Minas Gerais, and today these wines come from the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Mato Grosso and Tocantins. In the Vale do São Francisco, where the vine gives two harvests a year, Syrah is the main grape of the reds: 65% of the volume of the region's fine wines, according to Embrapa (2021).
Its other names
Syrah and Shiraz: same grape, same DNA. VIVC records 102 names for it; Shiraz is the official name in countries like Germany, Austria and Italy, and Portugal's IVV writes “Syrah / Shiraz”. In Argentina and Chile, Sirah shows up too. Some producers use Shiraz to signal a riper style and Syrah for a more restrained one, but that's a label choice, not a rule.
Watch out for a relative: Petite Sirah isn't Syrah. It's Durif, the offspring of Syrah and Peloursin, according to VIVC.
The pepper not everyone can smell
Syrah's pepper smell has a name: rotundone. In 2008, the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) showed it's the same molecule that gives black pepper its smell; in the peppercorn, it shows up at a concentration about 10,000 times higher than in a very peppery wine.
Now the best part: about 20% of the people tested couldn't smell rotundone even at the highest dose. In other words, you and your friend can drink the same Syrah and pick up different things. You're both right.
To start with: Syrah by price range
The price range the house saw at big stores in Brazil, in the month shown. The price changes; the range tends to stay.
- Esporão Alandra Tintoup to R$ 60checked Sep 2026
- Brezo Malbec Syrahup to R$ 60checked Sep 2026
- Diablo Dark RedR$ 60 to 100checked Sep 2026
- Casillero del Diablo Rosé (Reserva)R$ 60 to 100checked Sep 2026
- Mateus Sparkling Brut RoséR$ 60 to 100checked Sep 2026
Throwing a party? How many bottles to buy →
Top rated with Syrah
Average rating from the people who drank it (X-Wines), from 1 to 5. Tap to see the wine's page.
- Viña Vik Winery VIKrating ★ 4.6
- Viña Vik Winery La Piu Bellerating ★ 4.6
- Herdade da Maroteira Cem Reis Reserva Syrahrating ★ 4.6
- Cortes de Cima Incógnitorating ★ 4.6
- San Pedro Altaïrrating ★ 4.5
- Cartuxa Scala Coeli Tintorating ★ 4.5
- Emiliana Gêrating ★ 4.5
- Montes Folly Syrahrating ★ 4.5
See all 163 labels with Syrah in the search →