Varietal wine days are nothing new, marketing calendars are adorned with plenty of “gimmicky” days and themes, which provide marketers and social media managers with something to post about on a regular basis. When there is a news drought or no new product or service to talk about, they can be a Godsend.

But there’s more to it than that. The success of one of these days is arguably down to how well they are leveraged, and how well people collaborate. Successful varietal days like Chardonnay Day and Cabernet Day are prime examples of the momentum that can be built if an industry gets behind a date.

It may come as a surprise that our most popular red grape varietal in Australia had no day on the calendar to celebrate until 2020. And yet it’s argued that the planting of Shiraz in Australia pre-dates the James Busby Collection in the early 1830s!

International Syrah Day is marked on the global varietal day calendar for February 16th, but as the grapes are named differently in the Northern and Southern hemisphere (Shiraz is often referred to as Syrah in the Northern hemisphere), there has only ever been a small focus on Australian wines on Syrah Day. This means that no day has been designated for our beloved style of Aussie Shiraz. We’re about to change that.

In 2024 our fourth annual Shiraz Wine Day will be held on Thursday, 25 July, and thereafter we hope that the tradition will continue on the fourth Thursday of July each year.

Whether you’re based in Australia and call it Shiraz, or prefer the stylistic change of Syrah, there’s much to be celebrated about the diversity of this style. Let’s call it Shiraz with some extra pizzazz, because there’s so much complexity and breadth to the styles being made down under in Australia and New Zealand. It’s also the perfect excuse to discover a different drop or go back and enjoy one of your favourite producers. Some of the facts:

  • In 2023, Australian wineries crushed 346,156 tonnes of Shiraz (26% of total crush), although 20% lower than total Shiraz in 2022 **
  • In the 2023 vintage, Shiraz compared with other varieties increased its share by 4 percentage points to 49 per cent of all red varieties and one percentage point to 26 per cent of the total crush

Source: * Wine Australia National Vintage Report 2023

More information on Shiraz from Wine Australia is available here 

Some further background on Australian Shiraz and some of the old vines located throughout Australia is highlighted by our client Best’s Great Western.

Mastermind Consulting CEO Trish Barry noted “We were so thrilled to see the Australian wine industry along with so many brands rally behind the first Shiraz wine day last year. The success was very much fundamental to why we were named 2020 Wine Communicators of Australia, Wine Communicator of the Year! The results very much showed the power of collaboration and planning a campaign based story to be able to sell more wine, particularly in an environment that has been challenging with COVID uncertainty. Our most popular red grape varietal deserves to be put in the spotlight, particularly at the heart of red wine drinking season.”

In the past three years, the campaign made a significant impact on social media, reaching a large audience, with the majority of mentions occurring on Instagram. The hashtag #shirazwineday was widely used by wineries, influencers, and consumers to share their favourite Shiraz stories. The campaign generated numerous social media interactions, likes, and mentions. Various brands, such as D’Arenberg, Henschke, Golding, Langmeil Wines, Brown Brothers, Elderton Wines, Best’s Wines Great Western, Redman Wines, and other wine industry bodies across Australia, also showed their support.

Download 2024 Shiraz Day Support Material

The Mastermind team have created some graphics to help you leverage this new date and create some buzz around your brand. There are some downloadable social media posts that are free to use, just don’t forget to use #shirazwineday if you’re posting!

Here are the 2024 Shiraz Wine Day assets for you to download:

Need some suggestions on how to leverage a varietal day for your brand? Here are three ways you can help sell more wine and get your brand in front of an audience:

  1. Send targeted email communication to customers who have bought Shiraz from you in the past – include a special offer that they won’t find elsewhere. The discounts don’t need to be aggressive, but you will need to offer value.
  2. Think about how you can tell your brand or region’s Shiraz story – an opportunity to collaborate with others in your region to give a taste of the different styles of Shiraz being made
  3. Tell your story on social media – not only creating and scheduling a Facebook and Instagram post for the day, but also differentiate by writing blog posts on the subject of Shiraz, thinking about pulling together a panel of experts to talk about Shiraz on Facebook or Instagram Live, or perhaps partnering with other local identities to talk food and wine matching. Don’t forget to use the #shirazwineday

For more information and ideas you can also refer to one of our past blog posts over on our website. Alternatively send us an email and we’d love to chat through how we can help.