Syrah 1830s. So while the name or spelling "Shiraz" may be an effect of the English language on a French name, there is no evidence that it actually originated in Australia, although it was definitely the Australian usage and the Australian wines that made the use of this name popular. Another legend of the grape variety's origin, based on the name Syrah, is that it was brought from Syracuse by the legions of Roman Emperor Probus sometime after AD 280. This legend also lacks documentary evidence and is inconsistent with ampelographic findings. The wines that made Syrah famous were those from
Syrah including Côtes-du-Rhône and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Syrah is also the only red grape used in the wines of the northern Rhône. In 1968, there existed only of Syrah vineyards in France, primarily in the traditional appellations of northern Rhône, which at that time had not received much attention in the wine world for several decades, and the vineyards of which were not planted to full capacity. After the wines of northern Rhône were "rediscovered" by wine writers in the 1970s, plantings expanded considerably. This trend received an extra boost in the 1980s and 1990s, when influential wine writer Robert M. Parker, Jr.