2021 Tensley P2KV Syrah Thompson Vineyard Santa Barbara 750 ml

Not just anyone can get access to Thompson Vineyard Syrah grapes.  And if they’re waiting for Joey Tensley to give up access to his 30+ year old blocks, they’ll be waiting a long time. 

“From my time at Fess Parker, to Babcock, to Beckmen, I’ve worked with every vintage of this vineyard,” Joey told us. “In my first vintage under my own label, I made a barrel of it.”  

Only the third vineyard planted to Syrah in Santa Barbara County, and planted to the mythical Estrella suitcase clone starting in 1989, Thompson Vineyard was a natural fit for Joey’s P2KV single-vineyard series. Tensley only made 100 cases of the 2021, which Wine Advocate awarded with a MASSIVE 96-point score. That makes it one of the top 10 American Syrahs of the vintage, up there with Sine Qua Non and Paul Lato.

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. One of the keys to Thompson’s greatness is its own-rooted Estrella clone, which originated in a Chapoutier vineyard in Hermitage. “The clone has long skinny clusters, and is very perfumy, floral, and aromatic,” Joey told us. “It ages great. I've been drinking 15-, 17-, and 18-year-old Syrahs from this vineyard and they still have plenty of time to go.”

Joey made sure not to let any new oak get in between the pristine old-vine fruit and the wine: He used only one-year old barrels. "The vineyard expression is so pretty, I wanted it to speak for itself,” he said. “The purity of the vineyard is what it's all about.”