Syrah The Syrah-dominated appellations (AOCs) of northern Rhône have, like most other French appellations and regions, no tradition of varietal labeling of their wines. Indeed, such practices are generally disallowed under AOC rules, and only the AOC name (such as Cote-Rotie, Crozes-Hermitage or Hermitage) appears on the label. Varietal labeling of Syrah/Shiraz wines is therefore a practice that has emerged in the New World, primarily in Australia. To confuse matters, in northern Rhône, different clones of genuine Syrah are referred to as "Petite Syrah" (small Syrah) or "Gros Syrah" (large Syrah) depending on the size of their berries, with "Petite Syrah"
Wine in China Xinjiang Autonomous Region have an ancient history of viticulture going back to around the 4th Century BC, when Greek settlers brought the vine and more advanced irrigation techniques. However new archeological evidence has shown this to be untrue, because China produced grape wine, rice wine, mead (honey wine) 9000 years ago (7000 BC). The area around Turfan was, and still is, particularly noted for its grape production, and production of grape wines is mentioned in the historical record as well; Marco Polo mentioned that "Carachoco" (the name he used for Turfan) produced fine grape wines. The modern wine industry is