Syrah into Australia in 1832 by James Busby, an immigrant who brought vine clippings from Europe with him, and it is almost invariably called "Shiraz". Today it is Australia's most popular red grape, but has not always been in such favour; in the 1970s, white wine was so popular that growers were ripping out unprofitable Shiraz and Grenache vineyards, even those with old vines. In the Barossa Valley, the world's oldest continually producing commercial vineyard is believed to be the Shiraz vines at Turkey Flat in Tanunda that were originally planted in 1847. Many factors, including the success of brands like
Wine Grapes genetic link between the Burgundian wine grape Pinot noir to the Rhône grape Syrah and the Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Merlot and Malbec. The book also details how the Jura wine grape Savagnin blanc descended from the Pinot grape to go on and be the parent vine of several white wine varieties including Chenin blanc, Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon blanc, Petit Manseng and Verdelho. Along with research assistant and Master of wine Julia Harding, Robinson and Vouillamoz go on to detail the long history of discovering the parentage of the American wine variety Zinfandel including past research that pointed