Sourced from six sites, Va Piano’s 2008 Syrah delivers sappy elderberry and blueberry tinged with black pepper, oregano, and salt. Rather opaque in overall impression, with considerable bitterness and a bit of drying to its finish from wood tannin (though its proportion of new barrels was only 30%), this nonetheless represents a harmoniously ripe, diverse and persistent effort for enjoying over the next year or two. Owner-winemaker Justin Wylie styles Va Piano “Tuscan-themed,” though the only two wines I had a chance to sample did not recognizably fit that description. The winery opened in 2005, but the eponymous family estate vineyard in Walla Walla – into which a number of wineries are very successfully tapping – was planted in 1999. Tel. (509) 529-0900

Young, tart, bright with blackberry and black cherry fruit flavors, dappled with pepper. The aromas give you a taste of the complexity; in the mouth there is primary fruit, a wash of acidity, and yet the promise is so much more. Give it some time in the cellar.——P.G.(7/1/2011)—— 91

Rich, evocative, lush with aromas of earth, coffee, chocolate, mocha—scents that suggest excellent evolution ahead. Right now the fruit is primary, tart, raspberry and cherry, and not yet smoothed into the greater whole. But all the potential and pieces are there.——P.G.(7/1/2011)—— 90