Pass Me the Pepper Please

When I first started eating meat again a year or so back, it was my youngest sister who first introduced me to the scrumptious magic that happens when you pair a big, chewy, peppery shiraz with a big juicy medium rare steak. Although I have since found a ton of different reds that go great with steak, I must say I am still pretty partial to this particular marriage.

I have always been a shiraz and a syrah lover, and to clarify, they are actually one in the same. This varietal is native to the Rhone Valley in France where they call it syrah. Over time, the Australians — and some angry French people — have grown to call their most successful varietal shiraz. In California they use the words interchangeably, although more often you will see it as “syrah.” Then, just to confuse matters there is also a completely different grape, although a child of syrah, called petite sirah. My opinion is that all three (or two?) are wines I love to drink and here are a few of my current favorites.
   
Often times when people think about Australian shiraz, they think of Yellow Tail or Little Penguin or any of those other “critter wines” I have mentioned in a previous article. I don’t want to go around saying that these wines are terrible because they aren’t. These mass produced, consumer friendly wines, are just not very complex. If you are first dipping your feet into the vast ocean of wine drinking, these wines are very approachable, fruit forward and easy to suck down. If you are looking for something a little more complex and complicated, below are some great examples. Please beware some of these are not for the faint hearted or all that cheap, but once you try a remarkable shiraz it is incredibly hard to go back!
If you are still sort of a beginner but want to expand your horizons, I think a great place to start is with an easily accessible yet really quite delicious shiraz called Layer Cake. Coming out of the McLaren Vale, one of the better shiraz growing regions, this 100 percent Shiraz is dense and delicious with just enough of that signature pepper.  Its 91-point rating from the “Wine Spectator” (if you care about these things) isn’t too shabby either, considering it is priced at only around $11-13.

If you are ready to kick it up a notch, Peter Lehmann is the guy to help you do it. This shiraz comes out of the Barossa Valley — Australia’s finest grape growing region — where the grape has flourished since the 1840s. It is a direct descendant from Hermitage in the Rhone Valley. This is an example of how a quality Barossa shiraz should taste. The tannic structure is in perfect balance with the fruit and there is of course that hint of black pepper, especially on the nose.

One last wine I have to mention in this category is the Two Hands Angel’s Share shiraz purely based on how incredible it is. If you ever feel like splurging on a bottle, you will not be sorry. This wine consistently makes it onto the “Wines Spectator” top 100 list, which is not only a great accomplishment but also makes it sometimes hard to come across. This wine comes from Two Hands’ premium wine collection, which takes the best of the grapes from the best of the region with amazing results. Don’t be alarmed by the Stelvin screw cap since more and more premium wines are going in this direction in order to alleviate any chance of flaws due to a bad cork. This wine retails at around $40, so save this one for your best filet.

In a previous article I mentioned my very favorite syrah, the Montes Alpha syrah from Chile. It is definitely good enough to mention again. The Chilean origin of this syrah makes for unique characteristics different from those of California or Australia. The color of garnets, this wine is so large and full bodied that is even more spicy and delicious the second day. This is a superb value at $16 to $20 a bottle.  If you are on a budget but still want to experience all of the dark fruit decadence a syrah evokes, try Rosenblum Cuvee syrah. This wine comes from a variety of vineyard sites from around California. Although Rosenblum is known primarily for their great zinfandels, they also make an awesome syrah, and the price is definitely right at around $11 a bottle.

For a long time petite sirah (yes, it is spelled differently) was used primarily as a blending grape in California, where it is mainly grown. It is actually the durif grape which comes from the syrah pollen germinating a peloursin plant. My only point in mentioning this is to say that although there are some similar characteristics due to one of the parents, this is not the same grape as many people assume. This is a much darker, denser, more pronounced wine than a syrah. It is often suggested that these wines should always be decanted. There are a lot more berry notes and a lot more tannins, which will soften as they breathe.

Concannon was the first winery in California to release this wine as a varietal on its own. Although this is a limited production wine you can still usually pick up a bottle for around $11-$12. My current favorite though is The Prodigal’s Son from the Big House Winery in Paso Robles. Not only is the wine itself pretty fantastic, but the website (bighousewines.com), although a little complicated to navigate, is really cool as well. This smoky peppery wine with lots of black fruit and tobacco undertones is 100 percent petite sirah and costs around $13 a bottle.

I have found that this particular style of wine is one people either really like or really don’t. Pepper characteristics in a wine can be a good thing or a bad one depending on who you are talking to.  I am obviously on Team Pepper and if you too find yourself in this group, I hope you enjoy the suggestions.

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