Courtesy (null)

When learning about a kind of wine or a particular wine region, take your time and savor the differences.

When I first started teaching myself about Cabernet Sauvignon, I began with Napa Cabernets. I took notes and saved the labels. I tried to find subtle differences and describe them.

I hope to be able to help you with the findings I'm making while attending wine tastings and what areas are worth looking into for your own investigations. One way I begin a search is to look for where the best wines get their grapes and seek out neighbors that are producing from the area, sometimes from the same vineyard.

This week it is the Barossa Valley Shiraz wines from Australia.

The Barossa Valley is considered the original Australian wine region in the country. It is here that the first vines were planted in 1842 at the Bethany Vineyards, the first settlement in the Barossa Valley.

Today, it is a little smaller in population to Lincoln County as a whole and wine and tourism are the two key industries.

The Syrah grape, or as it's called in Australia, the Shiraz grape is the main grape of the Barossa Valley. The most famous Penfold's wines use the Barossa Valley Shiraz grapes.

Courtesy  A map of the Barossa Valley, where vinyards produce great-tasting Shiraz.
Courtesy A map of the Barossa Valley, where vinyards produce great-tasting Shiraz. (null)

The Shiraz likely came from the Rhône region, but its exact history is unknown. There are two myths behind why the Shiraz got named differently in Australia. The first is the French had protected the grape's name and designation of origin. The Australians had already planted some of the grape and so they changed the name to the Hermitage grape. That name lasted until the 1980s, but it was all Shiraz variety. The other reason for the Shiraz name is that growers didn't want to have their grape confused with the more popular Petite Sirah grape. The Petite Sirah is a cross of the Sirah and the Peloursin vine stocks. The DNA testing of the Shiraz made in 1999 showed the genetic background comes from Southeastern France and a cross between Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche grapes.

A Scot named James Busby is credited with the first Shiraz in Australia. But, it is likely he didn't spend much time learning to spell the grape he called "Scyras" and "Ciras".

The use of Shiraz is not limited to south of the equator, but all Australian and South African wines with the grape call it Shiraz. There are variations in other countries of the use but Shiraz and Syrah are the same; the Shiraz and the Petite Sirah are not.

Whether you start your search for a blended Shiraz, usually with Cabernet Sauvignon or Viognier, or if you are a purist to start with 100 percent Shiraz wines, focus on the Barossa Valley source for grapes. Notice I didn't say Barossa Valley wineries, because there are makers outside the valley using Barossa Shiraz that are worth the purchase.

The famous Penfolds Grange is a wine with varying amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon that the Penfolds winemakers achieve their best flavors. But, the wine is mostly from Barossa Shiraz grapes.

You don't need to go all out for a Penfolds to savor the greatness of Barossa Shiraz. Penfolds is the best trading wine from Australia. But, there are many superb Shiraz wines from Barossa for $20 or less.

It has become the common practice to use small new American Oak barrels with these wines. The practice of blending the Viognier grape was taken from the wonderful wines of the Cote-Rotie region of the Northern Rhône Valley.

A new classification that Barossa is trying to make an official classification is the 2009 Barossa Old Vine Charter. This takes the age of the vine in consideration as a sub-category of the Barossa Valley. There is the Barossa Old Vine, a vine at least 35 years old. Then comes the Barossa Survivor Vine, vines equal or greater than 70 years old. The Barossa Centenarian Vine is at 100 years old or greater. Then the oldest age classification is the Barossa Ancestor Vine, 125 years old or older.

Old vines do not of themselves make good wine. But, vineyards that consistently produce good wine tend to get the opportunity to become old vines.

Old vines also present challenges to the grower. They require a lot of nurturing and yields are often usually low. On the upside, they tend to be more drought resistant, and their efficiency often means that they can be flavor, sugar, and tannin-ripe earlier in the season.