Lynn and I have known LeaAnn Nelson Hughes for a few years, starting not long after we bought a second home in Walla Walla in 2008. Recently, we were invited to visit her Patina Vineyard, planted, with her late husband, Pat, in 1996. A date for the visit was arranged and in mid June, we drove south of town, reaching Patina Vineyard down at the end of the gravelled private road.

There, we met LeaAnn and took a walking tour of the 4.5 acre Patina Vineyard. It is planted in a neat rectangle with a south exposure, all composed of Syrah, a sun-loving variety. The soil is a combination of gravelly silt and loam on what was once the bed of Cottonwood Creek, before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers diverted the creek to its present course. As we walked along the rows, we saw healthy vines that has survived the freezes of 2004 and 2010. The vineyard is dry farmed.

Today, LeaAnn continues to supervise the maintenance of the vines, the harvesting, and the sale of the grapes to select wineries. Part of the crop goes to Otis Kenyon which produces a Syrah blend from Patina and Stellar, and to Adamant Cellars for its Spofford Station/Patina blend. Limited single vineyard bottlings have been produced by Otis Kenyon and Stephenson Cellars (Dave Stephenson is the winemaker for his own winery and Otis Kenyon), Tertulia, Sapolil and Reininger. As early as 2000, grapes from Patina won the first Double Gold for a Walla Walla Syrah in a San Francisco wine competition that was made by Mark Colvin of Colvin Vineyards.

To me, in tasting, the Patina fruit brings to wines a ripe berried (blueberry and currant) flavor profile, along with a gravelly minerality that gives distinctiveness to the varietal character of the Syrah grape. The vineyard expresses true terroir-driven qualities.

After our vineyard tour, we settled down on chairs in the shade of the English walnut trees, and savored a 2006 Stephenson Cellars Patina Vineyard Syrah that was maturing nicely, with its "patina" of earth and gravel imbued ripe fruit flavors, along with LeaAnn's delicious rosemary shortbread, a fitting conclusion to a wonderful visit.

See the Review of Washington Wines Facebook page for pictures of our visit to the Patina Vineyard.