2020 Tensley Syrah Santa Barbara County 750 ml

Tensley’s Santa Barbara Syrah has a devoted following among Wine Access members—one that borders on obsession. With its impressive heft and beautiful fruit, it’s got the power to reset your expectations for what’s possible for the money. 

As Jeb Dunnuck put it, Tensley’s bottles are “dollar for dollar...some of the greatest wines out there.” 

With his 2020 Syrah Santa Barbara, Joey Tensley—fresh off his first 100-point score—throws down the exact kind of bottle that made him a superstar and landed him in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 for four years in a row. Showing off a combination of vineyards as well as the 100-point master’s signature in its refined balance and bountiful black fruits, this is California red wine at its finest. 

Joey works with the Estelle Vineyard in Santa Ynez, the Laird and Cottonwood Vineyards in cooler-climate Santa Maria, his home vineyard in Los Olivos, and Colson Canyon, which has produced some of his highest-scoring bottles. Some of those sites are fog-drenched and cool, some are warmer and dry, and together they weave a tapestry that captures his talent and Santa Barbara’s pinnacle. 

We’ve long been ready for Tensley's prices to catch up with his skill, given the scores and critical praise he’s earned. He achieved all this without rocketing past the three-digit price point that now seems run-of-the-mill not only in Napa, but definitely among wineries in the same qualitative ballpark as well. 

And yet, a decade after our first vintages of Tensley, we’re still touting his unfathomable quality-to-price ratio. That’s fine with us—and we know it’s fine with our members, who’ve claimed every Tensley wine we’ve offered.