Shiraz is one of the most familiar names in modern wine culture.
At least, to the millions of casual wine drinkers that find it on the shelves of their local supermarket. A grape of obscure origin but widespread appeal, Shiraz is the beefy, fruity, full-bodied tipple of choice for many.
The history of Shiraz is a fascinating one, particularly when it comes to the grape itself, which ‘Shiraz’ both is and isn’t.
The Shiraz grape is the syrah grape, common to south-eastern France and used widely around the world; “Shiraz” was the name given to the syrah grape in the early years of Australian viniculture (ostensibly the result of Australian-English name-garbling, which coincidentally re-emphasised a mythologised connection between the grape and the historic regional wine of Shiraz, Iran).
A matter of taste
It isn’t just the case of one grape with two names. While there is much interchangeability between syrah and Shiraz wine, subtle distinctions make them stylistically different. Terroirs – that is, the climate, season patterns and soil content of a particular region – play a part, as do different fermentation or maturation processes by individual winemakers.
Simply put, syrah wines are often named for following the conventions and flavour profiles of products from syrah’s vinicultural epicentre – northern Rhone. These wines are less full-bodied and softer on the palate, often with a lighter volume to match. Meanwhile, Shirazes are named for possessing bolder, spicier and generally riper New World flavour profiles.
A fun analogue for this can be found in the beer world, where stouts and porters are similar styles with subtle implications made by each name. Buy a brewer several stouts at your local, and they may even admit to you that modern stouts and porters are barely distinct styles at all – and that a beer only reveals its stout- or porter-ish nature after fermentation…
Shir-az sure can be
This writer has elected to indulge the nominative implications of each ‘style’, focusing on Shirazes-by-name – wines which reflect the traditions and flavour profiles of the Australian ‘way’. Think big brassy spice notes, bold fruit and nut body, and woody, sometimes chocolatey finishes.
The majority, then, are Australian bottles – though some intriguing entries from other countries illustrate the role of intent in the production of great-tasting Shiraz wines.
Best Shiraz wines to buy at a glance
- Best overall: St Hallett Faith Shiraz 2020 - £16, Tesco
- Best for accessible complexity: Breaking Grounds Barossa Valley Shiraz 2022 - £16.99, Naked Wines
- Best for breathtaking balance: RedHeads The Corroboree Shiraz 2015 - £14.99, Laithwaites
- Best for easy Cali vibes: Canyon Springs Californian Shiraz - £8.49, Aldi
- Best for green-aligned red enjoyment: Cambalala South Africa Shiraz Limited Edition 2023 - £7.99, Aldi
- Best for summer drinking: Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Fairtrade Shiraz South Africa 2022 - £7.25, Sainsbury’s
- Best for spicy meals: Rabbit & Spaghetti Clare Valley Shiraz 2021 - £16, Naked Wines
- Best for nominative accuracy: Kooliburra Jammy Red Shiraz - £5.99, Aldi
- Best for accompanying lasagna: Chapter & Verse Australian Shiraz - £5.25, Aldi
- Best for drinking with a takeaway: Greasy Fingers Luscious Red - £10, Morrisons
- Best for Sunday lunch: Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference West Australia Shiraz 2021 - £7.75, Sainsbury’s
- Best for casseroles: McPherson Family Series Andrew's Shiraz 2021- £11.99, Laithwaites
We’ve also included some surprising bottles from the least cork-sniffy of sources, showing that a nice Shiraz is never truly a chore to find. But which, exactly, should you be keeping an eye out for? We’ve found the best bottles below.
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St Hallett Faith Shiraz 2020
Best: overall
Winemaking is often a story of pedigree, the many and varied professional and familial connections that build a winery or winemaker. Especially in historic wine-making regions such as the Barossa Valley, viniculture is passed down in generations; just as the Lindner family endured hardships aplenty to institute the St Hallett winery in 1944, so too has present-day Angus Seabrook built on a deep lineage of vinicultural expertise to develop some phenomenal examples of just what Australian wine can mean.
The St. Hallett Faith, true to type, is a beautiful all-rounder of an Australian Shiraz, hitting every mark for quintessential flavour and character. Red- and blackberries abound on the nose, combined with top notes of peach-fuzz and supported by a jammy character (which reveals itself magnificently over time – illustrating how vital it is to let a wine breathe!).
On the tongue, the Faith bares its teeth a little. It’s immediately sharp, catching the tonsils with tannic bite and sour blueberry. As the flavour develops, so too does the bite, into cracked black pepper and Sichuan peppercorns – the latter of which is particularly prescient, for the Faith’s saliva-exciting tendencies.
At the lower end of the flavour spectrum, there’s a hug of aged fruit and oak, and an herbal element that reminds of cola. As such, there’s a Kalimotxo quality to this wine (for the uninitiated: Kalimotxo is ‘cocktail’ of equal parts cola and red wine, regional to Basque country and far more delicious than it has any right to be), that works well in its favour.
Dark, powerful, velvety; involve Faith in your next chimichurri steak.
Buy now £16.00, Tesco
Breaking Grounds Barossa Valley Shiraz 2022
Best for: accessible complexity
Breaking Grounds is, in brief, a stunner of a Shiraz – tantalisingly offered exclusively through Naked Wines, and courtesy of young-buck winemaker Josh Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer’s CV is impressive on its own, irrespective the generations of winemaking stock before him; before running his own-label small batches for Naked (and after gaining winemaking mastery under the wing of the Henschke winery), he pulled his family winery Whistler Wines up through the ranks to award-winning status. All of this is evident in the form of this Barossa Valley Shiraz.
This is a dark, luminous red in-glass, fathoms of purple-red hinting at the multitudes contained within. The nose is soft yet tangy, holding bright ripe raspberries, cacao nibs and fresh mint over other, subtler notes. Freshness and sweetness are welcome themes here.
It is immediately fresh and sweet on the tongue too, with early notes of raspberry syrup and baked herbs. This is a primarily bright Shiraz, with spicy top notes that carry through and finish slow; tannic hair builds from sip to sip, though, reminding you that this is a strong and rich thing too. Oak and fruit leather combine with toasted cacao to create a powerful baseline, which makes itself more and more prominent as you drink.
The bright-but-aged dichotomy of the Breaking Grounds Shiraz makes it an ideal companion for meaty, fatty foods – something to cut through the blubber, catch your attention and refresh your palate. This writer thinks it is a grower of a wine, too, holding further secrets that future bottles would gladly reveal.
Buy now £16.99, Naked Wines
RedHeads The Corroboree Shiraz 2015
Best for: breathtaking balance
RedHeads is exactly the type of winemaking enterprise to get excited about. Started in 2002 as a sort of small-batch skunkworks for talented vintners, today it is the Robin Hood of wine labels – stealing out delicious grapes from the clutches of bigger commercial brands and giving them their best possible lives. The Corroborree Shiraz 2015 is proof that their endeavours bear fruit, comprising grapes from three regions of the sunny Barossa Valley.
The Corroboree is a delight to drink. Its nose is inviting, and heady; there is so much to glean here, from the rounded dark-sweetness of compote and chocolate shavings to the soft, breathy sting of fragrant spearmint. These notes alone imply an opulent version of an After-Eight. Behind the pomp, there’s a calm sense of spring hedgerow – bush leaves and rural air included.
On the palate, the Corroboree is ridiculously soft. There’s tannin and spice, but in measured and balanced attendance – bright grape skin balanced against demerara sugar and cacao. This flavour is supremely well-developed and develops well over time too.
This is a deeply moreish wine that wears its age flatteringly on its sleeve (but not so much its percentage, which took us by surprise after the second glass). Don’t drown this delectation in tomato or spice; consider breaking it out at your summer barbecue, and evangelising its qualities to your guests.
Buy now £14.99, Laithwaites
Canyon Springs Californian Shiraz
Best for: easy Cali vibes
Turning to the productive soils of North America’s west coast, Canyon Springs is a Wine of California, meaning it was not only fermented, pressed, cellared and bottled in CA but that all of its grapes were grown there too.
Not only is this an example of California’s viticultural strength, but also a strong example of budget supermarket Aldi’s incredible reputation for wine distribution. Aldi has made its fair share of column inches for its surprisingly consistent wine aisle, rich in high-quality low-cost bottles made possible by investment further up the supply chain; wines can be contracted, bottled and sold under Aldi’s own imprints, enabling sleeper blends to come in at uniquely low prices. Canyon Springs is one such wine.
Canyon Springs is expressive right out of the bottle. There’s an instant burst of maximal fruit-sweetness, which hangs heavy over the glass. This would likely have something to do with the loam-rich soil of California, the high fertility of which can result in vibrant, fast-growing vines. Blueberries, strawberries, black pepper and even a hint of salted caramel all sit together in the nose.
The fruity nature of this wine’s initial impressions carries straight through to the flavour profile, which is predominantly ‘juice’. This is an uncomplicated profile, a medium-bodied affair that bears more in common with the French Syrah style than the powerful New World Shiraz. This just serves to make it highly accessible, and eminently drinkable too. The Canyon Springs does open up over time, too, naïve jamminess eventually revealing mixed spice warmth and peppercorn heat.
This is an extremely well-balanced bottle made for sipping in the early afternoon. It would also serve well after pizza.
Buy now £8.49, Aldi
Cambalala South Africa Shiraz Limited Edition 2023
Best for: green-aligned red enjoyment
This is another pick from Aldi’s wine aisle, and one with a strong USP right from the off: the paper bottle. The Cambalala South Africa Shiraz proudly wears its eco stripes on its sleeve with a bottle design that gives far more space to the green credentials of the packaging than to advertising the bottle’s contents. All the pertinent wine information can be found on the back, like the fact that this is a limited-edition W. O. Western Cape Shiraz.
Just as the sustainable bottle may be a somewhat unconventional method of wine delivery, so too is the Cambalala Shiraz, an unconventional expression of the syrah grape. Where many Shiraz wines proudly marry fruity notes with warming spice, this is a straight-up spice bomb in the nose. Even given some time to air, there are powerful presences from all-spice, mace, cinnamon and smoked chilli – though dried fruits do also start to make an appearance.
On the palate, things are a little more complex. The wine has a thin start, which quickly blossoms into spice; the finish is brief, but with a short blast of bittersweetness redolent of lingonberry. In sitting with this wine, you’re rewarded with black forest gateau toppings and even a hint of icing, though the emphasis remains very much with shortness and sharpness.
This is a fun serve, with a finish that makes it moreish. Its spiciness is not overwhelming, nor is it subtle; pair this with crisps and dips, or Maillard-meaty flavours.
Buy now £7.99, Aldi
Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Fairtrade Shiraz South Africa 2022
Best for: summer drinking
The Taste The Difference Fairtrade Shiraz is the South African variety, marrying grapes from coastal Bosman and Appollis vineyards. It has sustainable credibility, and a more-than-adequate body to match.
This Shiraz is especially bright, with a Ribena-esque glow in the light; a colour that betrays its medium body, again a relative departure from the maximalist nature of the typical Shiraz-by-name. It appears light in another crucial way too, dancing around the glass much more freely than the denser average Shiraz. These facets belie the nose, though, which is every bit as complex as you’d hope, with developed tart and spice notes carried by a deep berry base.
The mouthfeel is a surprise, too. The wine immediately coats the palate, imparting dense savoury notes – caramelised onions, far-reduced demiglace – behind bright Eton-mess flavours of berries and meringue. The finish is shorter than these notes suggest, and indicative again of the wine’s lighter body. As with most Shirazes, there’s chocolate notes here, but greater still is the presence of tart-sweet dessert-y indulgence.
This bottle is a polite surprise for its price, even if it wears all its flavours on its sleeve. This is an excellent budget companion for a big greasy pizza, and an extremely forgiving summer red too.
Buy now £7.25, Sainsbury’s
Rabbit & Spaghetti Clare Valley Shiraz 2021
Best for: spicy meals
This Clare Valley Shiraz is another exclusive for Naked Wines, this time from Atlas Wines’ co-founder Adam Barton – a talented winemaker with the awards to prove it. It won the Rabbit & Spaghetti Clare Valley Shiraz 2021 named for an intriguing and little-known aspect of Australia’s viticultural history. Italian prisoners-of-war were sent to Australia to work in its vineyards, where they formed lasting bonds with local vintners over ‘family meals’ of rabbit and spaghetti.
This 14.5 ABV per cent Shiraz pours brighter than most – a red herring for its powerful scent and deep flavour. The nose leans bright for the most part, with sharp tart notes carried by tight boozy vapour. Past the alcohol, there’s strawberry coulis and fragrant basil, hinting at deeper notes on the palate.
And deeper notes there are, in a pleasingly smooth gulp that bears practically no relation to the sharpness of the nose. It doesn’t sting, but rather warms, as blackcurrant and violet give way to thyme and oak in the finish. The finish is long, but does not cloy, nor does it overstay its welcome. Each sip is a fresh invitation, and illusorily sweeter than the last.
The Rabbit and Spaghetti Shiraz 2021 would drink well in most scenarios, but particularly alongside – true to its name – gamey and Mediterranean dishes. Give it some spice, and be rewarded.
Buy now £16.00, Naked Wines
Kooliburra Jammy Red Shiraz
Best for: nominative accuracy
The Kooliburra Jammy Red Shiraz is a gem of modern wine-marketing. It’s dark out of the bottle, with a clear and promising purple-red hue. At first sniff, there is an immediate onslaught of forest fruits and cinnamon. This is quite full-bodied a red – and nominatively accurate too, with big dollops of long-stewed berry conserve making themselves known. The Shiraz’s tannic strengths are also well-telegraphed, with sharp and inviting top notes that demand to be tasted.
This wine lives up to its name in taste; the tannins and spice promised in the nose are subtle and restrained on the tongue, swamped a little by the huge hit of sugar-sweetness that fully coats the mouth. The spice levels build with successive sips, and a more complete image of the Kooliburra Shiraz makes itself clear.
The straight-up saccharine sweetness becomes a developed marzipan, and rock-sugar-spiked mixed spices sit atop. The lingering sweetness is equivalent to pain au chocolat, all luscious dark choc and feathery butter layers.
This is a highly forgiving Shiraz, and a forgiving wine in general. It suits the fresh wine-drinker’s palate, with rich jammy sweetness and a hint of challenging spice to entice a little more. This is an end-of-main course wine if anything, but can be easily enjoyed alone.
Buy now £5.99, Aldi
Greasy Fingers Luscious Red
Best for: drinking with a takeaway
The Greasy Fingers Luscious Red is a South Australian Shiraz/Grenache blend, selected, blended, bottled and marketed with a very specific demographic in mind. With the knowledge that younger generations are generally less on-board with wine, beverages megacorp Pernod-Ricard elected to create something modern and accessible – something to drink in today’s gastro-takeaway economy.
As far as this new trend of ‘casual wine’ is concerned, the Greasy Fingers Luscious Red is a winner. It positions itself at a carefully-judged point between strong and soft, with a fruity nose that doesn’t overwhelm with spice; rather, fig notes rise up over strawberries and cherries, and the lightest hint of pepper follows soon behind.
The flavour profile is suitably sweet, preferring red and black hedge-fruit to the fig found in the nose. The pepper is here again too, but again subtly, and at the very end of the medium-long finish. This is an understandably drinkable wine, and one which fits its remit well; the sweetness is almost perfectly pitched to cut through the unctuousness of the posh takeaway.
Buy now £10.00, Morrisons
Chapter & Verse Shiraz
Best for: accompanying lasagna
The Chapter & Verse Shiraz is the most accessibly-priced Aldi wine on this list, marrying a low cost with a promisingly austere bottle design. A South Eastern Australian blend, this wine is again a contracted product that punches above its price point.
The Chapter & Verse is a bright-ish pour, with a little purplish murk to soften its lustre. It’s headier on the nose than it looks, with big red-fruit roundedness and a raisin-like base. A great deal of sweetness is implied in its heady aroma, suggesting a soft, accessible bottle.
There’s little complicated about this wine’s flavour profile. It’s immediately bright and sweet on the tongue, with no initial spice or oak to deter the newer wine-adherent. It’s bold and present with berry flavours, and a hint of dark chocolate bringing a little differentiation to the sweet notes here. With time, herbier notes make themselves heard, bringing the brightness and freshness of the wine up against its bold fruit flavours.
This is an easy drinker for any occasion, really – but it would shine the most against strong tomato-ey or meaty flavours, particularly of the roasted or barbecued variety.
Buy now £5.25, Aldi
Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Western Australia Shiraz 2021
Best for: Sunday lunch
Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference wine range spans much wider than coastal South African vineyards, as this Western Australia Shiraz gamely shows. This is not only an archetypal Shiraz-by-name, but also a great example of a good full-bodied wine at the lower end of the price spectrum.
The Western Australia Shiraz pours clear and vibrant, settling easily (and surprisingly darkly) in the glass. The nose is full and rich, with something of everything in it; there’s roasted coffee beans, cacao and rock sugar mingling beneath soft stewed fruits, a herb garden of nostril-tingling brightness at the top and a dessert-y, pastry-rich islet in-between.
On the palate, the herby notes immediately give way to spice; pepper, mace and nutmeg, bringing the best out of the juicy berry notes that constitute the flavour’s base. This is an invigorating sip, with softness at the back and sharpness at the front. It is well-balanced too, if a little on the sweet side towards the finish. At seven-ish pounds per bottle, this is an excellent supermarket find, and a great candidate for Sunday lunches.
Buy now £7.75, Sainsbury’s
McPherson Family Series Andrew's Shiraz 2021
Best for: casseroles
Quietly plugging away at producing a wide variety of quality bottles under the guidance of chief winemaker Jo Nash, McPherson has gone global with a Family Series that connects bold batches with the characters of the winery’s namesakes. This is a 2021 Shiraz named for Andrew McPherson, characterful family patriarch and guest-entertainer extraordinaire.
The nose is immediately sweet and dense. Herbal notes singe the nostrils, over meatier undercurrents of elderberry jam. This is an easy-drinker of a Shiraz, with a much sweeter base level than most of its ilk.
It is immediately soft and gentle on the tongue, and has a relatively short initial impression – one comprised of mineral tang and tannic throatiness. The word ‘sanguine’ applies in more ways than one, from the deep translucent hues in the glass to the ferric top notes in the mouth. Given more time to air, the sweetness found on the nose eventually reveals itself, with a bright initial burst of Rowntrees Randoms jelly. The finish is as herbal as the nose. Andrew’s Shiraz is about as eccentric as Andrew himself appears to be, and a great accompaniment to the well-developed flavours of slow-cooked one-pot dishes.
Buy now £11.99, Laithwaites
Verdict
The market is stunningly broad when it comes to Shiraz. There are thousands of incredible bottles, and room for just a handful here so picking a clear stand-out is never easy.
We had great fun with the Breaking Grounds Barossa Valley Shiraz 2022, thanks to its clear and legible flavour profile and eminent redrinkability.
But the St Hallett Faith Shiraz 2020 takes the top spot; rich, strong, full-bodied flavours make it a bold and beautiful red, and effectively a whistle-stop tour of a great Shiraz.
