On the joys of wine "research".

Folks may remember that I'm on a little journey trying to discover when Australians started using the word "Shiraz" and the French started using the word "Syrah". Many small adventures and tiny discoveries since I started this journey, but today quite by chance I found a French reference to "Syrah" challenging the mighty OED's assertion that "Syrah" was coined in France during the 20th Century.

How about 1856 OED?

Check out Répertoire des travaux by Société de statistique d'histoire et d'archéologie de Marseille et de Provence.

Pages 114-15:

46" La Serine, raisin long, noir, peu connu ici, formant
la base des bons vins de la Côte-Rôtie.

47° Le Syrah, noir, gros et petit, deux variétés formant
la base du fameux vin de l'Hermitage ; on y associe la
roussane; ces variétés sont peu connues ici.


Page: 107 —

Serine. Terret.
Servan. Tibouren.
Syrah. Teinturier.
Trebizonde (nouveau).

As good as finding a well kept 1982 First Growth for a hundred bucks in my book!

Regards, Bob

Syrah. Teinturier.

But Syrah isn't a teinturier.

Peter, "Teinturier" is beyond my ken at the moment, but I wonder if those wine folks were considering Syrah as a wine meant to add color to Bordeaux wines -- during the 1850 -- 1860s estimates are that 80% of the Syrah grown at Hermitage was sent to Bordeaux for that purpose.

In any event, they clearly are calling the grape of Hermitage "Syrah" which is one half of my narrow minded ken at the moment.

On the Aussie ken front, John Wilson has been kind enough to do some research for me and has discovered an interesting switch by a leading Aussie winemaker in the 1860s:

I have checked the A.C. Kelly.books - very interesting!

His first book was The Vine in Australia, and published in 1861, he refers to "Scyras".

His second book was Wine Growing in Australia, published in 1867, and he had then changed his tune, referring to "Sirrah, or Scyras".

I'm still searching for the first appearance of "Shiraz" in Australia. At the moment, I'm confident that if the pronunciation theory is correct, the switch from "Scyras" to "Shiraz" took place after the 1860's: as Wilson points out, "most of those early South Australian and Victorian vignerons didn't speak "Strine", but English with a strong Germanic twang."

[To my ear, that's still the accent I heard most during my two trips to the Barossa.]

Regards, Bob

Bob; again, I think what you have is a set of local names. Serine in Cote Rotie is Syrah in Hermitage.

Peter; I don't believe that Teinturier is being used, in Bob's illustration, as a descriptor for Syrah.

Well, I tried to keep up with you in your research Bob but you left me in a cloud of dust!!! Great stuff!

Steve, I agree with your first point completely. Gerald Asher argues, for example, that "Serine" and "Syrah" are both derived from "Ser" an ancient word meaning "long lasting", and goes even further and argues that "Syrah" is a corruption of "Seriner". More on this anon.

I'm not sure how Teinturier was being used. I'll take a look at the entire list and see if I can figure out what the chart was supposed to communicate. As a word hunter, all I cared about, frankly, was that "Syrah" was used at that point in time to describe Syrah, or at least the wine that Hermitage was made from. Again, more anon.

Thanks for chiming in, Steve. I haven't forgotten your point at all.

Regards, and thanks to you both, Bob

Bob is on the hunt! Great Job!

Salute

Peter, Steve has it right -- there is no relationship between Syrah and Teinturier in the text; I lost the formatting in copying the text. There are two columns of words, and it was simply chance that Syrah and Teinturier were opposite each other.

The introduction to the list reads as follows:

Nous avons observé que , dans le Midi , le nom des mêmes
ceps varie bien souvent d'une commune à une commune
limitrophe ; que le catalan , par exemple , cultivé
à Aix , s'appelle mourvède à Gardanne ; que le mourvède
s'appelle teinturier dans diverses communes de l'arrondissement
d'Arles , que le coulombo de Marseille , est
l'aubier de La Ciotat. Il est même certains cépages dont
le nom varie dans les divers quartiers d'une même commune.
On sent qu'avec une pareille confusion il est fort
difficile de s'entendre et qu'il n'est guère possible de donner
d'une manière exacte le nom de toutes les variétés
de vignes qui sont actuellement cultivées en Provence ,
alors surtout qu'il existe des variétés qui, s'étant reproduites
d'une manière spontanée , n'ont pas même reçu
de nom. Toutefois, pour nous conformer au programme,
nous allons donner la nomenclature des ceps dont les
noms sont généralement connus en Provence, savoir :

[followed by two columns of words]

The link on Google books is
here.

Sorry for the confusion.

Regards, Bob

More great research Bob.
I find it interesting that Serine is femine (la), while Syrah is masculine (le).

Cheers,
Sue

I was stuck by that as well, Sue. My French is too weak to work out whether that is meaningful from a priority point of view.

Asher argues that Syrah is a corruption of Serine or Sereine.

Regards, Bob

I found a French reference to "Syrah" challenging the mighty OED's assertion that "Syrah" was coined in France during the 20th Century.

Which edition is that Bob? I have the 2nd (with no updates) and Syrah does not have an entry at all.

Steve, I'm using the online version. The Syrah entry is a June 2007 draft entry.

A variety of black grape used in winemaking, originating in the French Rhône region and now planted in most wine-growing countries; the red wine made from these grapes; = SHIRAZ n. 2.
1928 P. M. SHAND Bk. French Wines viii. 217 These vines..are of a kind called the Sirrah which is found hardly anywhere else. 1952 A. LICHINE Wines of France xiii. 172 The principal Côte Rôtie vine is the Syrah. 1969 Times 25 Jan. 20 The wine is made from the same grape as red Hermitage, the great Syrah. 1998 M. GLUCK Superplonk 1999 56 A most compellingly flavoursome and vibrant syrah, with sunny fruit and earthiness but an underlying richness of great elegance. 2006 Decanter June 53/3 In Fronton, native grapes like Negrette are blended with Syrah and the Cabernets to create perfumed wines of some distinction.

Regards, Bob

Incidentally, I see that the OED's definition of "Syrah" is a Draft Entry, June 2007, so my "discovery" has a little less value than my earlier enthusiasm warranted.

And, in further deflation of that enthusiasm, the citation may fairly be criticized as being a reference for "Grosse Syrah" and "Petit Syrah", not "Syrah".

Le Syrah, noir, gros et petit,

I believe "Petit Syrah" in that reference is what we now know as "Syrah".

[Sure wish I could tone down that original burst of happiness. ]

Ah, well. I am sure, Bob, that if you do ever find an English usage (don't think French counts) that predates anything cited by the OED they will be more than happy to hear from you.

I wonder why my 2nd edition does not have the word at all. I can only presume it is because grape varieties used to be considered more as proper names. One would write about "the Syrah".

I think the OED may be trying to tidy up and expand its wine related words, Steve; as you say, the 2d didn't have the word "Syrah". For example, here's a September 2006 draft entry on terroir:


DRAFT ADDITIONS SEPTEMBER 2006

terroir, n.

* Winemaking. The growing conditions in a particular region, viewed as contributing distinctive flavours to the grapes, and hence the wines, produced there; (also) = GOÛT DE TERROIR n.
In early use this sense tends to refer to the soil only (cf. sense b); in later use other factors such as climate, hours of sunlight, landscape, etc., are encompassed; cf. quot. 1983.
1968 E. KRESSMANN Wonder of Wine ii. 36 The soil (or 'terroir'), from which the vine draws its sap and its essence, plays a decisive part. 1971 N.Y. Times 4 Apr. X. 31/6 We had a delightful Malvasier... It is light-red and has the characteristic taste of the terroir, as all South Tyrolean wines. 1983 N.Y. Times 1 June C13/4 Mr. Prats spoke of ‘terroir’ as being not just the soil but a combination of factors that are out of man's hands, the coming together of the soil and climate. 1991 Wine & Spirits June 61/2 A wine with more detail and depth than the Brunate, the Prapo shows a distinctive terroir even at this early stage in its development. 2005 Whisky Mag. Oct. 24/3 The South Australian wine industry..have educated the consumer to understand that terroir is less important than grape variety.

I'm speculating, though -- OED sometimes discusses new or revised entries, but didn't do so for Syrah.

My enthusiasm for "Syrah" was based on their statement that "Syrah" was a 20th C. French creation; I will send them the Shiraz list which has some very early uses in English.

Regards, Bob