Tubegroover, shiraz/syrah are the two names for the same grape. Thought to be of Persian origin, it is the most common grape in wines from the Rhone (both generic Cotes du Rhone and Northern Rhone wines such as Hermitage, St. Joseph, etc). It is also used blended with grenache in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It is probably the most common grape grown for red wine in Australia. It is also grown in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
From what I know, "shiraz" is the name SOUTH of the equator and 'syrah' is the name used in the U.S. and France - pronounced as Asa suggests.
I have been curious - and Mick, if you're still keeping track of this post, perhaps you'd like to chime in? :^) - as to why Mick chose the non-Aussie version of the name. And is there a tube DAC called the 'Mataro' somewhere on the horizon?
Outlier, I think the original store price in Australia was around A$350-400/btl (which came to about US$220+/btl) but in the 2-3mos since release, it has risen to A$500-600/btl from what I can tell. If you can still find it at $220, now's the time. It probably won't get cheaper. FWIW, the 1996 is also a great wine [I dipped into my stash too early :-(] and is probably 40% cheaper. The relatively little-known Penfolds wine called RWT (similar red-on-gray label to Grange) is a similar wine, is probably half the price (and maybe 1/3 in a year like 1998) and in terms of bang-fer-yer--buck category, I'd expect it does really well for 1998.
All of which brings me to agree with Asa's point - 'another outlandish decadent hobby'!
