2021 Tensley P2KV Syrah Rodney's Vineyard Santa Barbara 750 ml

We all gotta start somewhere. Joey Tensley was lucky enough to start out at Fess Parker Winery in 1994, helping to plant Rodney’s Vineyard for just $7 per hour.

Today he’s come full circle, making a phenomenal wine from the very vineyard he helped plant back in 1994. Maybe you’ve had a Tensley Syrah by now—but you can’t know his full story unless you’ve had the 2021 Tensley P2KV Syrah Rodney's Vineyard.

P2KV is Joey’s salute to his predecessors in Santa Barbara County—”the OGs,” as he calls them—and their prestigious vines planted before 2000. His 2021 Rodney’s Syrah is a sensational, old-vine, Hermitage-style red from one of his most precious sources. In fact, Joey’s Colson Canyon Vineyard is his most valuable site—but every year, he trades three tons of fruit with Fess Parker so he can get his hands on three tons of Rodney’s Syrah.

Planted by Fess Parker in 1989 and 1994, Rodney’s Vineyard was once called “an emerging Grand Cru site” by Robert Parker. It’s planted to the Shenandoah clone of Syrah, one that is shrouded in mystery. “I don’t know of anyone growing it,” Tensley told us, with his trademark economy of words. 

This clone of Syrah produces an intensely savory, Syrah that is loaded with exotic flavors. If we had to bet? It probably came from Cornas. Its character is enhanced by co-fermentation with the white grape, Marsanne, and Joey’s use of 25-30% whole cluster fermentation. Antonio Galloni of Vinous picked up on this sauvage quality, calling it “a wild, crazy wine.”