The next edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the blogosphere’s virtual wine tasting party, has been announced. It will be hosted by the web’s first wine podcaster, Tim Elliot over at Winecast.Net.

For this, the 30th monthly tasting, Tim would like all participating parties to taste and review new world Syrah. Or Shiraz, as the case may be. Tim is going easy on all of us and will even accept blends if they are a majority Syrah.

Shouldn’t be that hard to find, so you can spend your time finding a GOOD one. Syrah is one of my favorite varietals for its ability to be both elegant and perfumed as well as deep, rich, and powerful, and sometimes all of that at once. While some people’s tastes lean towards one “interpretation” of the grape, I like many — from the jammy Shiraz of Barossa to the inky mineral syrahs of the Northern Rhone, to the thick luscious Syrahs of Napa and Sonoma and the Central Coast of California, and many more. Of course the Rhone is off limits for this event, as is the rest of Europe, but between the West Coast of the U.S., Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and New York, I’ll be able to find something nice.

Find something of your own, drink it and then blog about it on February 7th, and we’ll see you online!