Grape evidence for a dominant position of wine-making in human culture dates from 8,000 years ago in Georgia. The oldest known winery was found in Armenia, dating to around 4000 BC. By the 9th century AD the city of Shiraz was known to produce some of the finest wines in the Middle East. Thus it has been proposed that Syrah red wine is named after Shiraz, a city in Persia where the grape was used to make Shirazi wine. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics record the cultivation of purple grapes, and history attests to the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans growing purple grapes
Syrah departments of Southern of France, but is now widespread. It is believed to be caused by mismatch between the rootstock and scion rather than an infection by a fungus or a virus. In Spain there was an increase in the area cultivated in Syrah grapes from in 1990 to in 2009. The Syrah grape was introduced into Switzerland in 1926 and in 2009 was the 6th most common red wine grape in Switzerland (181 hectares). Mostly grown in Valais, along the upper Rhône valley above Lake Geneva, it produces "unexpectedly concentrated wine from mature vines". The Syrah grape was introduced