Syrah, Shiraz?

Syrah
and Sirah have both become almost as common as Cabernet and
Merlot. When I first started waiting tables in the late
197Os, however, it was Petite Sirah, not Syrah or Sirah,
which first appeared on the restaurant’s wine list. The
restaurant, which had cuisine with a Provence-Nouvelle
cuisine theme, did have Hermitage, Cote-Rotie,
Crozes-Hermitage, etc. on the wine list. It was confusing to
me. The French then were unwillingly to give any credit to
the identity of the grape. Going back to that first Petite
Sirah, it was from Concannon Vineyard. I didn’t know why the
Sirah sounded like Syrah and why it was so “petite” then.
That’s why I am writing this article.

Let’s start this
adventure by taking a step back to look at Syrah, the red
grape that comes from the Rhone Valley. The famous
ampelographer Galet in his book, “A Practical Ampelography”,
states that Syrah has many synonyms: Syrah, Schiras, Sirac,
Sirah, Petite Sirah, Petite Syrah, Hignin Noir, Entourerien,
Serine, and Serenne. Many producers in the Northern Rhone
have made a distinction between a petit Syrah (small-berried
Syrah) and gros Syrah (large-berried Syrah). Allan Bree, in
an article on the website www.gangofpour.com, interviewed
Sean Thackrey, a California wine producer. Thackrey says
that in the late 19th century, Californians brought back
cuttings of the “Petite Syrah” known to be have been planted
at the best sites on Hermitage hill in the Rhone Valley.
This he says is the origin of the use of epithet “Petite” in
California. He believes that Petite Syrah eventually became
a category for less distinguished varieties. He also notes
the existence of the mysterious Serine. “What was planted at
Cote-Rotie certainly was never called “Syrah” – it was
called “Serine”, and Serine was a grape planted in
California by the 187Os at the latest, since Hilgard called
it by that name and used it in his experiments, which are
published and well known.” Andrew Jeffords, in his book the
“The New France”, quotes winegrowers who claim Serine is a
small-berried, autochthonous variety which gives Cote-Rotie
its intense smokiness. Thackery believes that Serine, like
Petite Syrah, was eventually absorbed into what was known as
Petite Syrah. “So first we have ‘Petite Syrah’ as real Syrah
from Hermitage, then we have ‘Serine from Cote-Rotie, and we
have both of them in California by the 187Os. Then we have
the mess that ‘Petite Sirah’ has become, with Durif,
Peloursin and whatever else thrown in.”

The historian
who has shed the most light on the Petite Sirah confusion is
Charles L. Sullivan who touches on the topic in his two
books, “Napa Wine” and “A Companion to California Wine”. His
playbook says that Syrah came to California in 1878. It was
called Petite Syrah because the clones that came over had
small berries and low yields. In 1884, grower Charles McIver
is believed to have planted a cross, called Durif. In the
early 188Os, an amateur botanist in France, Dr. Francois
Durif, had developed it. (Note that, if we are to be fair to
the inventor of the grape, there should be one “f” in Durif,
not two “f”s as is commonly spelled.) McIver referred to his
Durif as Petite Sirah. Soon others were also calling it
Petite Sirah. Sullivan contends that in the 189Os all the
Syrah died due to phylloxera. When vineyards were replanted
in 1897, what was then called Petite Syrah was probably
widely planted instead. The low yields of Syrah had not make
it popular among growers.

Sullivan
mentions that, during Prohibition, Petite Sirah survived
because its tough skin made it stand up to the abuse of
shipping by boxcar. Petite Sirah was sent to home winemakers
around the country. He reports that one bill of lading
indicated that 358 boxcars were shipped out of Napa and
Sonoma, more even than for Zinfandel. Nurseries increasingly
used the name Petite Sirah to apply to a grab bag of
varieties including Durif, Zinfandel, Syrah, Alicante
Bouschet, Valdeguie, Gamay, Mondeuse and others. After
Repeal 75OO acres of this so-called Petite Sirah existed in
California – much of this was planted in Napa Valley.
Concannon, in the Livermore Valley, became the first
American vintner to varietally label the wine. The winery
released its 1961 vintage in 1964. From Napa Valley came
Ridge’s York Creek, Inglenook Napa, Stags’ Leap Winery, and
Souverain. Cresta Blanca, a Mendocino winery, was also an
early producer of Petite Sirah. A minority of these
producers used the Petite Syrah spelling instead of Petite
Sirah. During the 197Os, Petite Sirah was planted in the
Central Valley. It was used as filler for “Burgundy” blends.
By the 198Os, there were 45OO acres. During the ‘8Os, an
interest in Rhone wines set off a massive planting of Syrah
grapes in California. Some of this enthusiasm spilled over
onto Petite Sirah. In 1997, Carole Meredith, Professor
Emerita of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the
University of California, used DNA fingerprinting to
determine that the majority of the Petite Sirah vines grown
at the UC Davis experiment station was identical to Durif.
“They are simply two names for the same grape,” she
asserted. She also discovered that Durif is cross of
Peloursin, a Provence variety, and Syrah.

Dennis Fife of
Fife Vineyards
(www.fifevineyards.com/fife/pdf/Fife_petitesirah.pdf)
reports that Petite Sirah plantings have grown slower than
Syrah, but that the rate of Petite Sirah plantings has been
consistent with the whole category of Rhone varietals.
According to the California Department of Food and
Agriculture, in 2OO2, California had 326O bearing acres of
Petite Sirah, and 1137 non-bearing acres, for a total of
4398 acres, up from 4127 acres in 2OO1. More recent
California grape crush figures seem to indicate an up tick
in Petite Sirah popularity. In the period from 2OO2 to 2OO3,
Petite Sirah rose 22% in the volume of grapes crushed at
harvest compared to a 9% rise in Syrah. Petite Sirah,
however, still has a long way to go to catch up to Syrah. In
2OO3, there were 22,186 tons of Petite Sirah crushed
compared to 11O,388 tons of Syrah.

The First Annual
Petite Sirah Symposium held at Foppiano Vineyards on August
6, 2OO2, gave Petite Sirah attention both from growers and
the press. After the meeting, 65 producers created an
organization to promote their beloved Petite. Journalist Dan
Berger came up with a catchy name for the group – P.S. I
Love You. Diaz Communications has energetically put Petite
Sirah in the cross hairs of journalists. P.S. I Love You
members have increased their numbers to 187
strong.

Richard Paul
Hinkle, in an article entitled, “Where Petite Doesn’t Mean
Small.”, reports that the growers at this first Symposium
generally agreed that Petite Sirah performs best on
benchland and hillsides. It gets too vigorous in wet soils.
Humidity dramatically increases fungus attack, particularly
in the grape bunches. The grapes have thin skins and the
bunches are tight – both factors make the bunches extremely
vulnerable to fungus. The rot problem is why the French have
overlooked the grape. Most French wine regions are more
humid than California ones. Today, Durif is a minor variety
in southern France, approved for AOC production only in the
tiny, little-known appellation of Palette. The growers at
the symposium also noted that Petite Sirah berries are
easily sunburned. In addition, it was mentioned that the
variety needs a lot of potassium.

There remains a
controversy over what the grape should be called. In 1996,
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ruled that
Petite Sirah and Durif were not synonymous. However, it left
the door ajar. The BATF said that it would “continue to seek
evidence regarding the true identity of the grape called
Petite Sirah.” In 2OO2, the BATF announced that it was
considering whether or not to allow Durif to be used as a
synonym for Petite Sirah on wine labels. The agency’s
successor, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, has
yet to put forth a ruling on the issue. There is strong
resistance in California to any regulation that would force
producers to use Durif instead of Petite Sirah. Jo Diaz
tells me that Australian producers call the variety Durif.
They are eager for a pro-synonymous ruling in the US. Then
they would then put pressure on their own government’s
bureaucracy to accept use of Petite Sirah. Petite Sirah
would be a much easier sell than Durif. Diaz also tells me
that, in the California wine industry, “the Petite Sirah
versus Petite Syrah controversy continues to simmer.” The
‘I’s clearly outnumber the ‘Y’s. David Bruce, a long time
proponent of using “Petite Syrah” has recently moved to the
‘I’ side. The ‘Y’s may be in retreat. How the EU will react
to all this will be yet another story.