Hello, In Swedish, a calendar biter is a person who tries to find every single nedish fact about something or other. So, a person of the nerdish persuasion, neh? Here is a question I have tried to find the answer of (to?): When was the varietal Syrah first mentioned? I mean, historically. Not conjectures involving crusaders, the towns of Shiraz and Syracuse, nor the emperor Probius. I do now that Busby has it catalogued among the cuttings he brought to Australia in the first half of the 19th century (under the somewhat idiosyncratic spelling of 'scyras', apparently), but was that the first mention? As I have understood it, syrah was the name of the grapes grown on the Hermitage hill, while those grown on Cote-Rotie were called serine -basically the same varietal, but possibly with some variation (the serine having smaller grapes, nad thicker skins). Anybody game for an answer? Hopefully, with references.
Cheers
Nils