The 2008 Syrah Rocky Mother Vineyard was rather volatile and shared with a 2010 Syrah from five-year-old vines in Defiance Vineyard both vegetality and slightly gum-numbing tannins, but Nefarious Cellars’ 2009 Syrah Rocky Mother Vineyard displays sufficiently ripe if bitter- and tart-edged dark berry fruit allied to black pepper, coriander, tar, cocoa, and roasted red meats in a sappy, firm, and persistent performance. Hints of heat and oak astringency (from 18 months in one-third new, two-thirds once-used barrels) are mitigated by the invigorating effect of the wine’s tartness and peppery bite as well as by the intense persistence of its generally somewhat sinister cast of flavor character (a description I swear I wrote without at that moment reflecting on the implications of “nefarious”!). (DS)