Syrah is the third variety of a famous triumvirate where it shares the honours with Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot. Although fewer in number, its best wines are on a level with the great burgundies and clarets (in the past it was even used to improve the latter). On the map there are two key sites for this grape, which is rarely accompanied by other varieties: the seat of tradition in the northern part of the Rhone valley and the New World version on Australian soil. In both, it is stamped with the seal of opulent, vigorous, full-bodied red wines with large amounts of tannin and colouring material, a characteristic aroma of violets and blackcurrant and slightly smoky notes, as well as great capacity for aging. The quality grapes are the first ones. Syrah grows well in stony, granite soil and even in chalky clay. Jancis Robinson says that "Cabernet is for the wine-maker what Syrah is for the wine-grower", as the latter grape is easy to grow and not too vulnerable to disease, but it is more difficult to make quality wines from it. We have to "control yield, preserve the concentration of aromas in wine-making, carry out a long fermentation, carefully monitor the temperature and, ideally, mature it in oak barrels". But the result is worth it. The origin of the grape may be in the Persian city of Shiraz, in what is now Iran, or in Syracuse (Sicily) where the synonyms Sirac, Syra, Sirah and Syrac originate. Its arrival in the Rhone valley, according to one current theory, could have been via Greek colonists (Greek amphoras were found at Tain-Hermitage) and Hugh Johnson says that it is not known whether it comes from here or from the "Mondeuse of Savoy of the Allobrogica" mentioned by Pliny and so much appreciated by the Romans. So, Jancis Robinson considers that the grape was already established beside the Rhone at the time of the Roman occupation. Another theory dates the arrival to the 13th century and claims a hermit brought it to Rhone. Australia probably received it a couple of centuries ago among the 400 vine stakes collected by James Busy in his voyage to Europe. In 1840, Sir Walter Macarthur mentioned the grape in his letters as "an excellent, robust grape that produces well and does not seem to be subject to accidents and disease". Syrah has also been present since the 19th century in the south of France, above all in Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence, and has become the grape for improving the red wines of these regions, which it provides with structure and ageing capacity. It is also found in California (Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, San Joaquim Valley and San Diego), New Zealand (Marlborough and Hawke's Bay), Italy (Tuscany and the Aosta Valley), Greece, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Spain.