Syrah Masters 2019: the results in full

Having sampled almost 200 wines for 2019’s Global Syrah Masters, we bring you a full report on the top performers, taking in reds from Colchagua to British Columbia, Hunter Valley to the Valais.

The wines were tasted at Les 110 de Taillevent in London on 23 October

After a day spent tasting nothing but Syrah, one wonders why this noble variety isn’t a go-to grape for reasonably priced fine wine? If you look at the results from this year’s Global Syrah Masters, you can see that as many as 19 Gold medals and five Masters were awarded for samples sub £50, proving that excellence can be attained from this grape without spending huge sums – indeed, eight of those Golds were gained for wines retailing for under £20.

In short, this is a variety that can deliver juicy fruit, freshness, and inviting aromatics when its young, and complex savoury characters when its old, which is why it has cult status as Hermitage from the Northern Rhône, or, indeed nearby Côte-Rôtie, particularly when bottled as single vineyard offerings from Guigal, whose so called ‘La Las’ (La Turque, La Landonne, La Mouline) are some of the most collected labels in the world.

Having said that, the reputation of Syrah as a grape for making great wines is lacking, that is compared to Cabernet Sauvignon. Although Syrah may not have the intensely concentrated cassis fruit of Cabernet, and fails to deliver the same density of tannins, Syrah can be used, either on its own or in a blend, to create wines of similar complexity to the famous grape of the Medoc.

So why isn’t it more sought after? This I think relates to some issues – many of them from the past ­– regarding the type of wines it can produce. In its native homeland of the Rhône Valley, it can be associated with the aromas of sticking plasters that hail from the presence of Brettanomyces, once a common bacterium in wines from this part of France. From the warmer climes of Australia, on the other hand, Shiraz is used to produce pristine wines, but there has also been a history of making reds in a jammy, warming style that can be tiresome to drink.

Meanwhile, some young wines from a range of places, but particularly when bottled under screwcap, can display the unpleasant eggy aromas of Hydrogen sulphide (and other sulphur-like odours), because Syrah is particularly prone to reduction.

So, whether it’s because of Brett, reduction, or overripe fruit, Syrah has become associated with a range of undesirable traits, negatively affecting its image as a grape variety, even though the key regions where it’s planted have remained desirable.

As our tasting showed, such characters are now rare, and it’s necessary for the reputation of Syrah as a source of clean, fine wines to be re-written, although achieving this improved image will lag changing practices. Certainly in 2019’s tasting we had just a couple of cases when we detected the flavours from Brett – so around 1% of the wines – and, as judge Jonathan Pedley MW commented after the sampling was over, “the really positive story was the low incidence of reduction.” He added, “This continues the trend of recent years where producers seem to have got the hang of bottling under screwcap.”

Then there was the general march towards a more balanced style of Syrah, at least judging by the samples assessed this year. This included picking the fruit to retain the grape’s wonderful floral elements, from violet to jasmine, as well as its peppery spice on the palate, while avoiding excessive alcohol heat, and overly sweet or raisined fruit characters.

As for the winemaking, it was very rare that the judges felt that the impact of barriques was excessive, whether it was the flavours or tannins from oak.

Judging the Syrah Masters 2019

In terms of price, it has already been noted that Syrah seems to deliver a lot of interest for the price, especially compared to fine wines from Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir, but if one were to pick a ‘sweet spot’, then it would be a price band of £20-30. This may be a high price to pay for a single bottle of wine for your average wine consumer, but for a great drink, it’s not inaccessible.

What was extremely interesting to discover after the day’s sampling was the wide range of sources of our favourite Syrahs. As Pedley remarked, “Not surprisingly South Australia featured heavily in the medal table. Interestingly though, while one of our Masters came from Australia, the other two came from Switzerland (Valais) and Canada (British Columbia). New Zealand (Hawke’s Bay), South Africa and France (Saint Joseph) also picked up Golds.”

To pick out a few producers, taking home the top prize for consistently delivering wines at the top of their field, across almost every price band, was Wakefield – with Golds given to this Clare Valley winery from it’s entry-level ‘Estate label’ to its top-end ‘Pioneer Shiraz’, although its ‘Jaraman’ offered the ultimate in value, being the only Syrah under £20 to gain the hard-won title of Syrah Master.

Other Australian producers also greatly impressed. In particular, the Barossa’s Château Tanunda, along with the range of brands from Australian Vintage, and the wines from Bird in Hand, along with Langmeil, Pirathon, Levantine Hill, Henschke and Kalleske. Concluding on the strong showing from Australia in the tasting, judge Patricia Stefanowicz MW said, “the Australian Shiraz wines generated excitement.”

She continued, “It is great that the Aussies are keeping all that lovely blueberry, blackberry and black pepper, but toning down the high alcohol and the American vanilla and chocolate oak.

She added, “Elegance seems to be on the rise with delicious freshness and supple tannins in exquisite balance with concentrated flavour and integration,” before concluding, “Yummy, whether Barossa, McLaren Vale or elsewhere in Australia.”

Beyond Australia, it was top-end Syrahs from Hawke’s Bay (Church Road, Te Awanga Estate) and the Valais that wowed, while if I were to select the best-value wine of the day, it would be the sample from Mission Hill, called Reserve Shiraz, which hails from Canada’s Okanagan Valley. Why? It’s a £20 red with plenty of rich blackberry fruit, some chocolate notes, a touch of plum and pepper, and subtle floral aromas from a dash of Viognier in the blend.

Just such a wine provides all the evidence you need of Syrah’s appeal – it can yield a ripe and juicy barrel-aged, red wine that’s layered, aromatic, bright, and won’t break the bank. The Global Masters provided the ideal test-bed to confirm this, while providing a surprise result too: the current benchmark Syrah comes from British Columbia.

Over the following pages you can see all the medallists from this year’s competition, as well as comments from the judges (who are pictured below), and more information about the Global Sparkling Masters, including how to enter.

The judges (left to right): Andrea Briccarello, Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, Jonathan Pedley MW, Patricia Stefanowicz MW, Patrick Schmitt MW, Simon Field MW

Unoaked 100% Syrah

Oaked 100% Syrah

Oaked Blend (min 50% Syrah)

What did the judges think?

Global Wine Masters judge Jonathan Pedley MW

Jonathan Pedley MW

On style: “The handling of oak has improved immeasurably over the last decade or so.  There were only one or two wines where the wood was masking the fruit.

It seems that the trend towards more elegant Syrah wines continues.  There were actually very few old school blockbusters: opaque colours, jammy fruit, steroidal bodies, thuggish tannins. It was refreshing to see how many wines were striving to capture the floral (violet, rose petal, jasmine tea) and graceful side of Syrah.

A lot is written about high alcohol levels in Syrah wines (and many other varieties). Of course Syrah is never going to be thin and weedy but a good example, with the right amount of fruit and acid, can support a decent punch of alcohol. We had a few wines that were on the warm side but most of the examples we tasted were carrying their alcohol well.”

On price: “Previous editions of the Syrah Masters have shown that of all the mainstream black grapes, this variety is perhaps better at performing across the price spectrum than any other. In other words, whilst Syrah can do great things at the top end (£30-50 and £50+), it can also produce attractive and approachable wines at the cheaper end (<£10 and £10-15). This year’s tasting confirmed that observation.”

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Andrea Briccarello

“I really enjoy Syrah in every shape and form; from the spicy and savory to the silky and vibrant. Syrah loves heat so obviously south of France and in particular south Australia, had the best examples during the flights.

Syrah can be very versatile and offer all sorts of aromas and notes. It has a great freshness from within and can take a fair amount of oak. It is still a great grape that can age beautifully and offer great value for money.

I really liked the fact that there weren’t many overly oaked and over extracted wines; it’s quite easy to extract and get very dark and syrupy wines, masking the true notes of the grape.

There’s not much I didn’t like, I would have loved perhaps, to see more examples from the U.S and south of France.

I really enjoyed the cooler side of south Australia, like Clare valley, showcasing some great structure and finesse.”

Simon Field MW

“A lot of positives emerged. Firstly how few wines were reduced, often, for me the Achilles heel in young Syrah. Therefore plenty of rich colour, floral aromatic and berry fruit flavours. All the more encouraging, given that over 50 of the entrants, therefore not far off one third, came from Australia. The menthol and eucalypt flavours were not entirely absent, nor should they be, but there were few caricatures and little by way of the Proustian cough sweet.

That said, it was striking that the Australian wines, for all their consistency , often didn’t scale the heights of appreciation. Telling too that the highest marks were reserved for countries such as Switzerland and Canada ( BC) where maybe the climate more closely follows the  Rhône template, even if one is land-locked and the other an island!  Similar comments can be made for the wines submitted from South Africa and New Zealand, where, respectively, The Western Cape and Hawkes Bay , performed very well.

An encouraging tasting overall; Syrah should be seductive and cerebral at the same time, more flamboyant than a blue-stockinged Cabernet Sauvignon and yet perfectly capable of lasting the course, indeed of making it to the cheese course, as and when required.”

Patricia Stefanowicz MW 

“Judging the Syrah Masters is a ‘mark the calendar’ event. The overall quality of the wines from relatively inexpensive (sub-£15) to astronomically expensive is remarkably high. There are very few wines that one would not drink a glass, or even two, a confirmation of the distinctive black-and-red fruits and black pepper attributes of this distinctive and superb grape variety. The ‘harvest’, as it were, of Silver, Gold and Master Awards is to be applauded.

In 2019, as often the case, the Australian Shiraz wines generated excitement.

…We tasted some delectable and affordable wines from the northern Rhône; St Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage tasted well. It’s a shame that we didn’t see more wines from the Rhone or south of France, because those we tried were very drinkable and would be flexible with a variety of foods.

There were fewer South African wines with burnt and charred meat characteristics of the past, and the best examples from South Africa showed good balance and concentration.

Other positive aspects of the tasting were the blends of Syrah/Shiraz and other varieties. Many of these blends were succulent and aromatic, showing how well Syrah works with other grapes. In particular, the floral notes from white grapes added a touch of je ne sais quoi.

At the stratospheric price level many of the wines were stunningly delicious: great fruit, appropriate oak accents, lively acidity and velvet-textured tannins.

If there were a minor disappointment, it was the almost overly herbal/green features in some wines from Chile, where producers really require an appropriate terroir with the attributes that produce excellent Syrah grapes.

All-in-all, a wonderful judging day.”

About the competition

The Drinks Business Global Syrah Masters is a competition for all styles of Syrah from around the world. This year’s event saw over 150 entries judged blind by a panel of highly experienced tasters. The best wines were awarded medals which ranged from Bronze through to Gold as well as Master, the ultimate accolade given only to exceptional wines in the tasting.

The wines were tasted at Les 110 de Taillevent in London on 23 October. This report features only the medal winners.

Please visit the Global Masters website for more information, or, to enter future competitions – giving you the chance to feature online and in print – please call +44 (0) 20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com