The Two Faces of Syrah:
The Dog and the Wine

By Gary Madden, General Manager, Lieb Family Cellars
[Photo of Syrah] I lost my friend, our dog, CH Montage Petit Syrah to kidney disease on May 7, 2007. He was my closest non-human friend, and our mascot for our vineyard in Cutchogue, NY, only 85-miles east of Manhattan. By the time I brought him to The Animal Medical Center, his condition had deteriorated to the point where it was untreatable, but our journey to The AMC was predestined – it brought us to meet The AMC's dedicated staff and to discover the wonderful research and education underway at The AMC.

Syrah was named after the Syrah wine grape, and in his memory we have made a Syrah wine as a tribute to him, and also as a fundraiser for the amazing work being done at The AMC. Lieb Cellars, our vineyard, will donate 20% of sales of this wine to The AMC, to support the excellent kidney therapy and research underway under the auspices of Dr. Cathy Langston and Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, The AMC's President and CEO.

Syrah, a Belgian Tervuren, and his littermates were born in my kitchen in Half Moon Bay, California, on a small ranch we had at the time. He came from a line of tremendous working dogs with an uncanny ability to understand and work with their human pack leaders. His mother, Desi, my first dog, was a brilliant herding dog with a wicked sense of humor and playfulness. His father, George, was a therapy dog who eventually sired many performance dogs – herding, agility, confirmation, tracking, therapy, and search and rescue dogs. His “Uncle Topper” became an honored Search & Rescue dog, searching for survivors at the Oklahoma City bombing, the Yosemite Valley landslides, and as the most senior searchdog at Ground Zero after the World Trade Center attack.

[Photo of Syrah] Syrah and his six littermates were all named after wine, which was my hobby at the time. Being the “runt” of the litter, I thought it would be fitting to name him after the “Petit Syrah” grape. Little did I realize that eventually I would be managing a vineyard and winery in New York, and producing an actual Syrah wine in his honor. Syrah grew from the runt into a healthy, happy dog, who enjoyed the beach and being surrounded by wildlife – from sheep to bobcats and coyotes. When I relocated to Long Island, NY, we swapped the ranch for the vineyard, but kept the beach. Syrah made the transition from farm dog to vineyard dog easily. One harvest season we had a neighboring family of wild turkeys come visit us almost daily. Syrah's herding experience came in handy, keeping the turkeys from eating all the fruit (okay, I relented and finally decided to let the turkeys have a few rows of cab franc grapes; I enjoyed watching them roost in the small trees by the winery every night). Syrah was also a regular and reliable employee in our tasting room, never taking sick days and very popular with customers, many of who would come just to visit with him. He also took great joy in guarding the front door, our delivery van, and my car by barking to warn me of approaching strangers. He would ride shotgun with me as I did my errands, and was known by everyone including the tellers at the bank drive thru, gas station attendants, and the FedEx and UPS deliverymen. Most of the North Fork seemed to keep dog treats on hand for Syrah.