Take a Walk on the Red Side - Top Sparkling Shirazes
Yep, you read that right. Sparkling RED. Not Blanc de Noirs. Not rosé but red wines with bubbles.
For many wine students, sparkling reds are strange and unfamiliar territory in their studies. Sure, they may have heard about Sparkling Shiraz or those hilariously cringe Riunite Lambrusco commercials from the 70s & 80s. And maybe they’ve even tried a few.
However, if we’re being honest with ourselves, most will admit that we taste and explore more traditional sparklers like Champagne, Cava, Prosecco and the like far more than we do with sparkling reds. Now for wine students, that’s not terrible because those traditional styles certainly are more prevalent on wine exams. If your study time is precious and limited, it’s always the smart play to prioritize these dominant categories.
But sparkling reds do show up on wine exams—both in blind tasting and with theory questions—so it’s not the greatest idea to completely ignore this category. If you’ve got the time and patience to hunt these wines down, here are some previous exams wines that will help broaden your sparkling horizons.
In this post we’ll talk about sparkling Shiraz but stay tuned for part II where we’ll talk about Lambrusco and how to differentiate it from sparkling Shiraz in a blind tasting.
Peter Lehmann’s Black Queen
This is a premium example of sparkling Shiraz made in the traditional method. Most of the examples we see exported from Australia tend to be Tank or Carbonation method. Made from low yields of old vine Barossa Shiraz, this wine emphasizes the general profile of Rich & Intense that characterizes sparkling Shiraz.
Look for - Dark fruits, spice, chocolate, high alcohol (14%) and noticeable 30 g/l RS (putting this in the EU Sec/Dry sweetness category 17-32 g/l)
As with a lot of these wines, it will be easier to find these in the UK versus the US with Wine Searcher Ave £23/$30 USD.
In the US, the closest that Wine.com has to this Peter Lehmann’s style (at time of publishing) is Best’s Great Western Sparkling Shiraz 2017. This wine is also traditional method with high alcohol (14.5%) but possibly a little sweeter. I couldn’t find the exact residual sugar but they use their Best’s Liqueur Muscat for the dosage.
Bleasdale Sparkling Shiraz
One of the top-selling sparkling Shirazes in Australia, this is a very good benchmark to try. Sourced from Langhorne Creek in South Australia, this tank method NV is made from 50% of a perpetual blend (a little like a solera) with Shiraz from every vintage dating back to 1997 and then 50% from the most recent harvest.
Look for - Dark berry fruits, soft tannins, medium alcohol (13.5% most years, though climate change is making 14% more frequent) and Med Dry/Off Dry sweetness.
Wine Searcher Ave £13/ $16 USD.
In the US, the closest that Wine.com has is The Chook Sparkling Shiraz made by Penny’s Hill. Another tank method sparkler but this is made from young 3-5 year old vines across Penny’s Hill’s holdings in McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. Moderate alcohol (13%) and likely similar residual sugar (22.5 g/l) as the Bleasdale.
Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Shiraz
This was featured on an MW exam a few years ago and is not too far off in style from the Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz (made by Accolade but now discontinued) that was once featured on the WSET Diploma exam. This tank method wine is a fairly good seller in the UK market.
Look for - A mix of black and red fruit (keep in mind this is sourced from the large South Eastern Australia appellation, so you will have a mix of climate influences and fruit quality), soft tannins, medium alcohol (12.5%), and Med Dry/Off-Dry sweetness.
Wine Searcher Ave £9/ $12 USD.
This one is a bit tougher to find a “US equivalent” because while Jacob’s Creek is often viewed synonymously in the US with YellowTail, YellowTail’s sparkling Sangria is a completely different kind of wine—made from a blend of grapes, much sweeter and by the carbonation method.
Again, we know this will be a challenge to find these wines, particularly for US wine students, because this is not a popular category for US retailers. But it is a challenge worth taking because these wines are often not what you expect.
Sparkling Shiraz is unique in that it is harvested and fermented like a red wine because tannins, richness and intensity are such focal points. Likewise, the notable amount of residual sugar is there to balance the tannins and help emphasize the intensity of the dark fruit. However, this sweetness shouldn’t be cloying with that balance being a big distinction for the higher quality examples that tend to pop up on wine exams. While knowing the theory will help, nothing beats tasting and discovering for yourself.