Western Living Magazine
Protected: Work where it feels like home, say goodbye to the commute
The Ultimate Home Design Guide: Top Designer Tips for Every Room
You’re Invited: WL Design Talks With Trish Knight and Nicole Varga
5 Incredible New Wineries Have Hit the Okanagan
The Grape Escape for Wine Enthusiasts
The Gin of the Summer (and Fall, Winter, Spring) Is on Sale
Dark Skies in Utah: Chasing Cosmic Connection on the Road
Cycling the Emerald Isle: A Windy Adventure on Ireland’s Greenway
Glamping Utah: Adventure Has Never Felt So Good
Trending Now: 10 New Furniture and Homewares for Fall 2023
Paint Trends 2024: No One Can Agree on the Colour of the Year
Discover California Closets – BC
Q&A: Meet the Texas-Based Contemporary Artist Dan Lam
5 Reasons to Enter the WL Design 25
Introducing Western Living’s 2023 Designers of the Year Award Winners
Same grape, different name (and a different taste, too).
No. And yes. At the most basic level, they’re simply interchangeable names for the dark-skinned grape that’s the seventh-most planted variety worldwide. But on a higher plane, it’s like saying men named Chris and men named Topher have the same name—technically, they’re both Christophers, but in reality, you can probably tell the Topher at 20 paces. Syrah is the benchmark here, having been grown with great success in France’s Rhône region for nearly two millennia. Its hallmarks are a high acidity and notes of black pepper, violet and blackberries. Shiraz, on the other hand, is the name the grape took in Australia, and while the DNA is the same, in the hands of the Aussies it grew to be much riper, and the resulting wines—which took the world by storm starting in the 1980s—were higher in alcohol, very ripe and very jammy. In B.C., syrah has won the battle of the names, with shiraz showing up only as mostly low-end wine with a few decent exceptions, like the Black Sage Shiraz, which, while ripe, has some semblance of balance. Syrah, on the other hand, is quickly making a play to become our signature red—with examples from Black Hills, Laughing Stock and Stag’s Hollow showing all the finesse of France—spicy and elegant, dark yet nuanced—at about one-third the price.
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