jamie goode's wine blog: Video: tasting three great Syrahs from South Africa

Friday, August 14, 2009

Video: tasting three great Syrahs from South Africa

Here's a clip of me tasting three rather good Syrah/Shiraz wines from South Africa. I've had half a dozen over the last week, and they've all exceeded my expectations. Less of the South African character, more purity to the fruit, and some personality, too.

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8 Comments:

At 6:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Was expecting the fashion police to turn up any minute after a shirt like that.

 
At 6:41 PM, Anonymous Keith Prothero said...

Very good Jamie--your presentation skills are improving.
Glad you liked the Cape syrah you have been tasting although surprised why you are surprised at the quality.

 
At 6:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're looking a good six to 12 inches above the camera, too. Looks odd.

 
At 7:51 PM, Blogger Nick Oakley said...

Jamie,

I think the Syrah / Shiraz question goes deeper than you imagine. Market acceptance plays a large part, as do European wine laws. There were reports of a great UK supermarket red, Wild Pig - an inexpensive southern French Syrah - losing considerable volumes of sales when the INAO (or whichever local authority) insisted that calling the wine Shiraz was incorrect, and forcing a change to the more acceptable monicker, Syrah. Sales fell through the floor following the change!

My own company sells a Portuguese wine into the UK market (no names), where Syrah/Shiraz is one of the two grapes in the blend. The wine can be sourced from two neighbouring apppellations - one permits the use of the word Shiraz on the label, the other doesn't. No prizes for guessing where we source our grapes for this blend!
Thankfully the law is now changing to accept Shiraz more widely, but I don't know if the French authorities have yet moved on this

 
At 2:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Jamie - Like Keith I am not surprised the syrahs/shirazes were great as South Africa does Shiraz so well despite their fondness for bordeaux winemaking - taste the difference Shiraz from Graham Beck....of course a personal favourite. I spent friday afternoon tasting Merlot Shiraz and Cab Merlots from a the big SA and Ozzie brands and the south african quality was far higher and made much better drinking!!

 
At 2:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jamie have you discovered the cause of the burnt rubber/green ripe and unripe notes on the SA reds yet? will you do an update on your page when you do to settle the debate once and for all?

 
At 2:44 AM, Blogger Couves said...

Thanks for the video tasting- I enjoy these. I’ve got to check out more South African reds- it sounds like they’ve hit a sweet spot with value wines.

 
At 11:17 PM, Blogger jjoak said...

Goode job Jamie. I sell that Porcupine Ridge in the US and really really love it.. very original and real wine for the price

 

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