1 bottle/ 2 meals- The comfortable blanket of Syrah

I like to think of Syrah as the older sister who likes to sit by the fireplace and snuggle in to read a good book after finishing a nice bowl of stew with her family.  Shiraz on the other hand, is the younger sister who likes to watch MTV reality shows in her spare time after chowing down on pizza and wings with her boyfriend.  They are the same grape, yet so different because of the region of the world they are grown.  Syrah was born in France more specifically the Rhone region, and then found itself reborn across the world in Australia where it calls itself Shiraz. 

They are both fabulous in there own right yet can come across your palate as completely different and sometimes alarmingly so.  I love both versions of the grape and again for differing reasons.  Shiraz is bold, peppery, and can at times slap you in the face when you don’t expect it, just think of an Aussie-Attitude and that is what Shiraz is like.  Syrah is more earthy, mellow, yet powerful, it asks you to sit down, be comfortable, and hang out for a while.  In the U.S we call it both names depending on what style it is trying to mirror. 

For this meal tasting I used one of my resent favorite wines from Chile which was a Syrah and it delivered the French method of the grape.  I went for comfort foods that anyone would enjoy and relax with on a cold day.  Both meals were amazing, but the stew was beyond amazing!  Even if you do not enjoy wine you have to make this stew however, I will warn you to leave the house while it is cooking!  My entire house smelled like an incredible Italian or French restaurant and it made just want to eat everything I could see. 

Please visit my blog for the recipes and tasting notes.