2021 Tensley Syrah Colson Canyon Vineyard Santa Barbara County 750 ml

In 2009, Joey Tensley had just sent Robert Parker a slate of wines that would come back with an impressive array of scores, but a comment about one of Tensley’s single-vineyard wines stood out: Parker called it “one of the finest Syrahs being produced on California’s Central Coast.”

It was Tensley’s Colson Canyon bottling. 

Colson Canyon is Tensley’s signature site, Syrah is his grape, and the 2021 shows exactly what had Parker enamored more than a decade ago. 

Of course, Tensley is no longer a rising star but a master with a 100-point score to his name and an impressive four-year streak of making Wine Spectator’s Top 100. He also has big fans in two Parker protégés that happen to be the most reputable critics in the game: Antonio Galloni of Vinous just dropped a score of 94–96 points on the 2021, and Jeb Dunnuck, who called Tensley’s current lineup “brilliant,” sees it landing as high as 95+.

Now, about that special site. 

The Colson Canyon property covers 115 acres but has only 16 acres of grapes. Because the elevation and rugged terrain make so much of the site untamable, only three more acres of this forbidding site have the potential to be planted. 

But forbidding sites can also be the most blessed. Colson Canyon shows that year in and year out, and the quality has climbed even higher since Tensley and his wife Jennifer purchased Colson Canyon about six years ago. They thin the canopy, carefully monitor moisture, and drop fruit when they need to. The reward of all this hands-on care is one of the best red-wine values in California, coming from one of the state’s maestros.