Tensley Santa Barbara Syrah 2022
Saturday night, we babysat for grandkids as the kids attended cooking class at Sur La Table. We took carry-out dinners from Mariano’s and a favored producer latest release wine.
We first discovered and wrote about this producer, Tensley, and the then release of this wine in this blogpost in these pages back in the Spring of 2022 - Tensley Santa Barbara County Wines.
While we are members of their wine club and receive periodic allocation shipments, we found this release and acquired it at our local Binny’s Beverage superstore.This exceeded my expectations, was much better than expected, a perfect compliment to bbq ribs and roasted corn, so I went back and picked up several more bottles. We have an extensive collection of Tensley wines from our wine club shipments, and we tend to clean them out of all the available Tensley Colson Canyon label when we visit Total Wine stores in Nora, (Indy) and Pensacola.
Winemaker notes - “The Santa Barbara County Syrah is a beautiful representation of the diverse vineyards all around the appellation. These grapes are coming from five unique vineyards, in which some are cool and fog-influenced, while others are dry and windy. The resulting wine celebrates all that each microclimate and soils has to offer creating a big, juicy, up-front, and full-bodied style carrying blue fruits, lots of peppery herb nuances, sweet tannins, and a great finish.”
In 2020, the winemaker wrote about this label - 2020 Winemaker Notes: "Every year the vineyard percentages change, yet the style remains the same. In 2020 we introduced Laird Vineyard to the blend. By adding this vineyard we continue to work with sandy cool sites to add freshness and savory notes to the final blend.'
"We add complexity and power by including all of our single vineyard Syrah sources. At the end of the day, this wine is both powerful and fresh. It beams with bright acidy and saline notes, rounding out with blue and black fruits to make it generous, juicy and easy to drink. It will age 7-10 years, but do not hesitate to open and enjoy its freshness today."
Decanter gave this 94 points & "Top Buy: America's 30 Best Syrahs", and says, “it's an accessibly priced introduction to the diversity of Santa Barbara County.” It also received 92-94 points by Jeb Dunnuck who said, “A year-in, year-out smoking wine”, and 93 points Erin Brooks of Wine Advocate.
Dark inky ruby purple colored, full bodied, rich thick ripe concentrated unctuous yet nicely balanced and approachable, black and blue fruits with savoury black pepper, olives, cassis and dark chocolate with smooth tannins and texture on a long finish.
RM 92 points.