Editorial: Syrah – critics’ darling, market misfit?

If Shiraz is so good, why doesn’t it feature more prominently in the general wine conversation? Why is it, by many accounts, difficult to sell? Because, I’d suggest, “quality” and “mass-market appeal” are solving completely different problems.

It’s a bit like the gap between a critically adored band like Geese and something engineered for constant radio rotation. One wins attention for originality, edge and craft; the other wins ubiquity because it instantly makes sense, is easy to hum along to, and slots neatly into everyday listening. Both can be excellent, but they are not trying to do the same job.

South African Syrah, for all its current brilliance, sits firmly in the former camp. It is no longer the easy, generous, fruit-forward proposition it once often was. Instead, it is increasingly aromatic – pepper, herbs, even quite pronounced greenness – underpinned by freshness and grippy tannins, which can leave the casual drinker faintly nonplussed.

Consider the top-end examples like Boschkloof, Damascene, Mullineux, Rall, Reyneke, Savage and Van Loggerenberg, alongside Boekenhoutskloof and its Porseleinberg project. Yes, these are expensive wines and therefore not everyday by definition, but it is their style as much as their price that sets them apart. They reveal themselves with attention and sit uneasily in the world of casual, midweek, no-occasion drinking that underpins most volume sales. These are serious wines in a market still driven, largely, by ease and immediacy.

And therein lies the rub. Categories that scale tend to offer a clear, immediate point of entry. Cabernet Sauvignon signals structure and seriousness. Merlot trades on softness and approachability. Pinotage, in its traditional register, is bold and assertive. Syrah, by contrast, occupies an awkward middle ground: part Rhône lineage, part Cape expression, the emerging archetype increasingly uncompromising and one that the average consumer struggles to latch onto.

Faced with a shelf, the buyer defaults, as they always do, to recognition. Brand, not nuance, is the shortcut. The uncomfortable truth is that South African Syrah, despite its critical ascent, has yet to build the kind of brand equity that translates into instinctive purchase. It is respected, certainly, but respect is not the same as reach.

The exception that proves the rule

The Chocolate Block from Boekenhoutskloof is the exception that proves the rule. The current-release 2023 is 74% Syrah, 11% Grenache, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cinsault and 1% Viognier, so Syrah-led rather than straight varietal. Even so, with its production volume and a price of R295, it shows Syrah is no inherent barrier to commercial success. The question is whether that success stems from composition or from a memorable name and carefully crafted style. Other producers that have scaled without sacrificing too much premium, such as Kanonkop with its Kadette range and Rupert & Rothschild, lean heavily towards the Bordeaux varieties.

Value is no panacea. Even well-priced quality struggles if it needs explaining. Conversely, you have to ask whether consumers are really that willing to put in the effort that discovery requires, or whether buying habits are simply more conservative than we like to admit.

The Shiraz category clearly delivers plenty of instances of high quality relative to price, but it is less clear whether this is converting into demand. In this year’s Prescient Fund Services Shiraz Report, the Top 10 wines average R283 a bottle, with six priced below that level. Price alone would therefore not appear to be decisive. Other forces such as familiarity, established brand cues and ease of choice continue to carry as much, if not more, weight. The quality hierarchy is therefore blurred, if not absent.

Set against this, competing categories enjoy structural advantages. Sauvignon Blanc delivers instant gratification. Chenin Blanc combines familiarity with versatility. Cabernet carries global recognition and a well-understood promise. Syrah, in its current Cape expression, asks the drinker to meet it halfway, but older, riper styles still linger in the market, clouding its identity. Its stylistic range can therefore read less as diversity than as ambiguity.

Currently, therefore, Syrah finds itself in a curious position: a category that has advanced rapidly in intrinsic quality, driven by serious intent on the part of producers, but not yet in how it resonates with consumers. And perhaps the issue is that “everyday Syrah” will always be something of a contradiction in terms.