2020 Tensley Syrah Sta. Rita Hills Santa Barbara County 750 ml

Joey Tensley’s wines are an obsession at Wine Access. The 100-point winemaker’s blockbuster bottles crush the Wine Access member-ratings with their off-the-charts quality and rock-steady consistency. 

With his 2020 Sta. Rita Hills Syrah, Joey throws down an energetic, high-toned bottle that shows why he’s a superstar. His consistently excellent Rhône-style wines have garnered huge praise from Wine Advocate—which said he’s "flirted with perfection" with "high-end, super-duper wines"—and this is the kind of bravura effort that earned him that praise, plus landed him in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 for four years in a row.

Showing off Joey’s mastery in its refined balance and its pure, sunny fruit, this is California red wine at its finest. It delivers tons of black-cherry aromas wrapped in layers of dried herbs, with black pepper and tobacco. The mouthfeel is plush and elegant, with dark fruit, zippy acidity, and sturdy tannins that resolve in a long finish.

Like all of Tensley’s reds, this bottle is a fantastic blend of site and skill. Thanks to his two decades on the Central Coast, he’s gotten access to prime vineyard sources, including the Steriti Vineyard in the prized Sta. Rita Hills AVA in Santa Barbara. The celebrated appellation sits in a valley between stretches of a rare transverse mountain range—one with an east-west orientation rather than north-south—where ocean breezes buffet the vineyards. The fog that moves in at night and recedes during the day moderates temperatures, and Steriti’s cool climate and free-draining sandy soils help produce grapes with a beautiful balance of concentration and acidity. 

Joey made only 175 cases of this Syrah, so when you pop a bottle, make it a special occasion.