Romantics like to think that the Greeks discovered it in the small poetic town of Shiraz in ancient Persia (today's Iran). According to this article in the Miami Herald by Fred Tasker, "California growers didn't help. When they brought in the grape from both France and Australia in the 1970s, some of them called it syrah while others called it shiraz. In some cases they used the name syrah when they made it in the firmer French style and shiraz when they made it in the riper Aussie style. In other cases they just called it by whichever name they thought would sell faster."

     In the above link, Tasker creates a hysterical scenario of Jerry Springer trying to undcover the "DNA of the grape," in a similar way he does to establish paternity on his TV show.

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