2015 Cherry Newton Syrah Rancho Boa Vista Vineyard Ballard Canyon Santa Ynez Valley 750 ml

“Stolpman, Jonata, Beckmen, Kimsey, Rusack...” Victor the bartender at Buellton’s famed Hitching Post II restaurant had asked us to name our favorite Ballard Canyon estates, so we ran down the list—until he cut us off. 

“All Jeff Newton wines,” he said matter-of-factly, as he polished a glass. “You guys must know Cherry Newton, then.” We confessed that we didn’t, and before we could ask Victor to enlighten us, he’d hopped on the bar’s landline. Within minutes we had a next-day appointment with Jeff Newton, the legendary Central Coast vineyard manager who, it turns out, is the underground secret sauce behind some of our favorite grapes.

This unexpected facetime with one of the unsung heroes of Santa Barbara led us to one of the most serendipitous cellar discoveries of the year: Jeff’s 2015 Cherry Newton Syrah Rancho Boa Vista Vineyard, a sensational 93-point red that carries a $55 sticker price. But our impeccable timing and willingness to take every last bottle results in today’s deal: Just $23 per bottle.

Five years in the cellar has done wonders for this bold Syrah. It’s got sumptuous Morello cherry notes accented with hints of graphite, cigar, tar, licorice, and black olive tapenade, and tannins that meld beautifully with the fruit and oak textures to become wonderfully dusty on the finish. Long, lingering, and elegant, we kept coming back to our glass until the bottle that Jeff had popped for us was history.

When we visited him at Rancho Boa Vista, we got the whole story of how Jeff Newton became one of the under-the-radar stars of Santa Barbara County wine. A local grape supplier to the Central Coast stars we’d rattled off to Victor at the Hitching Post, Jeff’s been farming Ballard Canyon’s limestone soils since 1988, and knows them as well as anyone. 

When he uncovered an especially perfect plot of Syrah vines in this hidden pocket of Ballard Canyon, he decided he wanted it all to himself. He purchased the vines outright, and hired the best winemaker he knew—Cris Cherry of Villa Creek in Paso Robles—to help him make his very first wine. Cherry Newton was born.

2015 was only Cris and Jeff’s second vintage, but it turned out so beautifully that Jeff wanted to find a way to “make a splash.” Vinous cued it up perfectly with their impressive 93-point score, but with no marketing team and no time to do the sales work themselves, a good portion of Cris and Jeff’s 150 cases stayed put in the cellar, aging patiently. That is, until Victor at the Hitching Post sent Wine Access calling.  

That’s the kind of access that leads to the best deals, and this one will be hard to top. It’s a Wine Access bargain that we’re thrilled to have found, and are even more excited to share with you. $23 for a tiny-production first-class Santa Barbara red—it doesn’t get much better than that.