Berger: Why syrah is such a hard sell

I have heard it so often recently from merchants and restaurant people that it may now be their mantra: you can’t sell syrah.

This isn’t a new theme song. It’s been around for the better part of the last decade, and is part of the same old story that typically infects some aspects of the wine industry, in which the following formula saying exists:

“I can’t sell a drop of ______.” Fill in the blank.

Three years ago, everyone was agog with moscato. Today you can use that word in the blank.

Problems with a wine grape usually stem from a) unexpected demand of a grape variety that quickly becomes in great demand and thus is in short supply, followed by b) overplanting of that variety, notably in places ill-equipped to make a good example of that wine.

Then “C” comes along: The bubble for that variety bursts, leaving a lot of the once in-demand grapes now impossible to sell.

It happened soon after 60 Minutes’ 1991 report of the French Paradox put red wine on many diets as a heart protectant. In 1990, California crushed only 15,000 tons of merlot off some 9,000 acres planted in the state. But that grape became “hot” by mid-decade as growers raced to convert existing acreage to merlot to fill the demand for a palatable red wine.

By 2000, California was crushing more than 300,000 tons of merlot off 58,000 acres, and the majority of it was not very good wine.

Now move ahead to 1997, when the entire state of California crushed less than 10,000 tons of syrah. But the variety had a lot of pluses: it was vigorous and gave a substantial crop (so was theoretically profitable), relatively impervious to disease, was relatively easy to ripen, and wasn’t prone to making odd-flavored wines.

By 2000, just as merlot was showing signs of sales weaknesses, syrah was in heavy planting mode statewide.

And from that 10,000 tons crushed in 1990, syrah tonnage crushed in 2000 was 147,000. Again, it was a growth spurt that was a lot more than the country wanted or needed, especially when the grape was (again) often planted in the “wrong” regions for making a great wine.

Today merlot remains widely planted (45,000 acres), syrah a lot less so (20,000 acres). But there is an awful lot of ordinary wine being made from both grapes, and in coastal regions where a lot of syrah was planted, some people are still trying to get $30 a bottle for it as a varietal wine.

In our current state of red wine homogeneity, that price is simply too high, which is especially notable along the east coast where hundreds of European reds sell for $20 to $25 without much resistance. Meanwhile, syrah usually hits a brick wall, even when discounted.

The result is the ever-widening use of both syrah and merlot, and other red wine grapes, to make blended red wines.

Sometimes a producer will actually confess and say what was used in the blend. One superb such wine is Francis Ford Coppola’s 2012 Director’s Cut “Cinema,” a wine that has 49% cabernet sauvignon, 45% zinfandel, and small percentages of petite sirah and syrah.

However, many red blends are simply amorphous things thrown together using grapes that do not otherwise have use as varietal wines. So we see carignan, zinfandel, alicante bouschet, petite sirah, and tempranillo all being used in the same bottle that’s adorned with some cute label.

Fantasy names for such wines do not automatically mean the wine is not great, and some can be good values.

Two points: You won’t see many blends using pinot noir. For one thing, the grape isn’t great in blends with other grapes, and pinot noir sells reasonably well as a varietal wine. Also, warm-climate merlot in a blend is often a tipoff that the wine is going to be slightly jammy.

The use of syrah in a blend doesn’t, in and of itself, mean the wine is suspect. Just don’t expect the wine to be very syrah-like.

Wine of the Week: 2012 Double T Red Wine, Napa Valley ($20) - Trefethen Vineyards produced this stylish red blend that is essentially a meritage blend of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. The aroma is appropriately scented of the two main grapes, and the mid-palate is soft and approachable for early consumption.

Sonoma County resident Dan Berger publishes “Vintage Experiences,” a weekly wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com.