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2006 Syrah "Evelyn Noir Black Oak Vineyard"
Santa Barbara County |
May, 2008 |
224 Buyers |
140+ cases |
 in 5 days |
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 Why We Chose It
Lino says he's been lucky -- twice. At age 14, he was able to make his way up from Mexico to Santa Barbara County. His sister had married the vineyard manager at Fess Parker and had made arrangements for Lino to join her. That was the first stroke of luck. Two years later, he met 21-year old Joey Tensley, then a cellar rat at Fess Parker. Tensley immediately took to the young Mexican, taking him under his wing for a winemaking ride that would span almost two decades.
Joey Tensley has gone on to become one of the most talked about Syrah producers in California. His Colson Canyon Syrah is one of the 5 or 6 top rated Syrahs in America since 2001. We offered the Colson Canyon 2006 on WineAccess 6 months ago and the rave reviews are still streaming in. Over 150 cases of Colson Canyon went out in less than a day. So when Joey saw that Lino had made some beautiful 2006 Syrah, but had little time to sell the wine, Joey called us.
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Lino Garcia bought a few tons of grapes from a 15 acre Syrah vineyard called Black Oak. Joey's wife buys grapes from Black Oak as well. Black Oak sits in a cool spot, close to the award winning Thompson Vineyard. The soil is a sandy calcareous mix offering wines that are concentrated and wonderfully aromatic, without the heaviness sometimes found in loamier soil. When Joey sent us a bottle of Lino's CLEB Black Oak Syrah 2006, there was no price on the bottle. We really liked the wine; deep color, bright fruit, simply delicious. When we called Lino and asked him what the wine sold for, he said, "I don't know. Twenty dollars?"
Twenty bucks? Nothing this good costs $20 in California. We called Joey, wanting to make sure that the price was accurate. Joey just laughed. "Yeah, I guess he can do it for 20 bucks. Lino's got the insider's deal. He doesn't even pay for the lights. Just the fruit and barrels, everything else is on us. Lino's worth it."
This a rare buy, a tiny production Syrah cuvee, made under the watchful eye of one of California's Syrah masters. It's a wine where literally all of the production cost went into the raw ingredients -- grapes and cooperage. The rest of the overhead is 'on the house.'
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Tasting Notes
2006 CLEB Syrah "Evelyn Noir Black Oak Vineyard" Santa Barbara County
"Deep purple color. Lovely vibrant, cassis and red fruit nose. Surprisingly light on its feet. Deep red fruit flavors, hints of violets. Sand soil comes through in the finish with its vibrancy. Excellent Syrah. Drink now-2012."
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