Telling your syrah from your shiraz

Lessons from New Zealand's Listener: "They say that the name Syrah is a French version of Shiraz, the town in ancient Persia where the famous grape variety is said to have originated. If so, then the Australians' name for the variety, Shiraz, is in fact the original. And it is appropriate that the name Shiraz is used on Australian wines made from this grape, as they are so unlike the wines produced from syrah in the French Rhône Valley that it would have been nothing but a misnomer to give them the name Syrah.

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