Que Syrah Shiraz

Three cheers for Shiraz. That was the catch-cry of practically every grower, maker and marketer in Australia's traditional wine-producing regions some 20 years ago.

Not only was the workhorse variety the country's most productive red grape in 2006 (yielding 441,000 tonnes), it had its nose in front of Chardonnay (423,000 tonnes) as our dominant wine variety. Almost one in four bins processed that year held Shiraz.

Thirty years earlier, the variety accounted for the largest area of vineyard plantings removed from the Barossa Valley as part of South Australia's government-sponsored vine-pull scheme.

Check the records for 2026 and it seems like Shiraz is on the ropes again nationally.

Production this year fell to 234,377 tonnes, 44 per cent below its 10-year average. It was the first time in 15 years the variety had dropped below 20 per cent of the total national crush.

But look beyond the headlines and there's a different story to be told, says Matt Pooley (pictured). 

He's brand manager of third-generation, family company Pooley Wines.

One of the variety's great strengths is its capacity to produce interesting and varying wine styles. Wines that nevertheless express their site, including the climate and soils in which its vines are grown.

Barely three weeks ago, the Pooleys were celebrating multiple trophy wins at the prestigious 2026 Sydney Royal Wine Show. Their 2024 Pooley Syrah won trophies for Best Shiraz, Best Red, and Best Wine of Show.

It was the first time in the Show's 200-year history that a Tasmanian wine had achieved trophy success with the variety.

"The same wine won the Trophy for Best Shiraz at the 2025 Royal Hobart Wine Show at the end of last year," Pooley adds, putting to bed the idea that Sydney's show victories were little more than one-hit wonders.

According to chair of judges Mike De Iuliis, cool-climate Shiraz wines were the highlight of the Sydney event. This year's 278 entries came from a diverse range of regions and producers.

"It was particularly exciting to see the Best Shiraz of Show come from the Coal River Valley in Tasmania," he remarked.

"It was a great reminder that cooler-climate sites are producing some exciting Shiraz in Australia right now."

Pooley says that while many consumers may be drinking less wine these days, there's also a growing trend to drink better wine. Consumers seeking top quality wine are willing to reward producers by paying a little more for their preferred style or variety.

"We've enjoyed a lot of success over the years with Pinot Noir, but it's really good to have a different red variety to add another string to our bow for consumers that like fuller-bodied reds," he explains.

"It's important to us that we don't just make the news, we actually make the sales.

"Big blockbuster Shiraz wines do seem to be falling out of favour these days.

"We recently did a dinner at the Adelaide Club and were blown away by the response we got from people there. Slightly lighter, more elegant Shiraz wines seem to satisfy a lot of what people are looking for.

"Tassie Shiraz is a hand-sell wine, no doubt. But with every passing year – and major awards like those in Sydney and Hobart – the job does get a little easier."

Cynics will tell you it's about time. The industry's apparent overnight success has taken decades.

Its prolonged national wine show trophy drought was breeched in the biggest possible way back in 2011 when Barossa-born winemaker Nick Glaetzer won the prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show.

It was the first time in the trophy's 50-year history that a Tasmanian producer had secured Australia's most celebrated wine show award for young reds.

His 2010 Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers Mon Père Shiraz was a spicy/peppery style, the result of blending from fruit from the Tamar and Coal River Valleys. Vintage data from across the island that year suggest there were barely 10ha of productive Shiraz vines in the State.

Pinot Noir would have appeared a much more likely candidate to secure top honours in Melbourne.

Fast forward to the cool and very late season of 2026 and industry figures reveal a Shiraz crush in Tasmania of around 320 tonnes. Yields were significantly lower than average this vintage, but the spate of recent plantings meant that close to 100 tonnes more Shiraz was picked in 2026 than the year before.

More Shiraz in bottle might suggest greater likelihood of success in competitive tastings.

But that doesn't seem to ring true. At least, not yet.

Few Tasmanian producers participate in large-scale events, generally because they don't have the scale of production to meet entry requirements. Others see little point in foregoing valuable wine sales when the odds of trophy success are of the order of 200:1 or 300:1.

Besides, plenty of producers have philosophical reasons for not showing wines.

The reality is that many Shiraz producers are still finding their way in Tasmania. Good site selection and quality viticulture are the key drivers of success.

Marked improvement in the availability of quality planting material is likely to yield further dividends in coming years.

Pooley says the inspiration for his family to take on Shiraz came from the pioneering work done in the 1980s and 1990s by George Park (Stoney Vineyard) and Bill Casimaty (GlenAyr Vineyard). 

The first major issue to be addressed was accessing a range of certified clonal selections. It proved problematic. Cooinda Vale's initial plantings in 2000 came courtesy of cuttings from a fellow Coal River Valley grower. 

Matt Pooley says more recent plantings in 2018 and 2022 introduced two new clones to the Campania site. One is a certified selection from the Rhone Valley that only arrived in Australia in 2006.

The trophy-winning 2024 was brought to life with fruit from the second vintage of Cooinda Vale's newer plantings.

"It's now a matter of fine-tuning our vineyard management to ensure we can consistently get the best out of these new clones," he says.

"That will take time."

When Ian Roberts first planted Riversdale Estate in 1991, there were few wine producers in the Coal River Valley that could provide good advice on what varieties and clonal selections might work best on his Cambridge site. (Pictured above.)

It didn't take him long to achieve commercial success with Chardonnay. By 2016, Roberts figured among the country's most awarded Chardonnay producers. Wines produced under Riversdale Estate labels had won 10 trophies and 30 gold medals in national and international competition.

The entrepreneurial Roberts appears to have similar plans for Shiraz.

Less than three years ago, he won the 2023 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge with Riversdale Estate's 2021 Musca Syrah. The event attracted 340 entries from 54 regions.

His Best Shiraz of Show award was the second time in successive shows. No other producer had won back-to-back Best of Show trophies in the event's 29-year history.

Roberts has entered every Great Australian Shiraz Challenge since 2018. Those eight shows have yielded seven gold medals and six Best Tasmanian Shiraz trophies, addition to his two Best of Show trophies.

Cranbrook's Gala Estate secured the event's Best Tasmanian Shiraz in 2024. Like Roberts, owner Adam Greenhill is convinced the variety is well-suited to his vineyard's ancient soils and cool-climate growing conditions. (Greenhill is pictured picking Shiraz with his father Bob Greenhill.)

Family-owned Gala Estate began its Shiraz explorations barely a decade ago when Greenhill planted 0.5ha in the property's shallow, ironstone soils.

"That first clone came from Gerald Ellis at Meadowbank," he says.

"It had performed well over the years. We've since added another 2.0ha of Shiraz at our newer developments just outside Swansea. They include a new certified clone.

"Right from the outset, our fruit has been exceptional. Every vintage has been good. 

"It makes a beautiful table wine. Those shallow ironstone soils outside our sheep runs appear to offer plenty of advantages in growing it. We're already thinking about doing another small development. The premium end of the cool-climate market has definitely become our focus in recent years.

"We're very optimistic about Shiraz. We think the variety has got a real future here."

Judging for this year's Jimmy Watson Trophy – and the Best of Show award at the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge – is only weeks away. 

Watch this space.

Last page update: 12 September 2026