Tensley All Blocks Estate Blend 2015 | Cellar Selection that’s already impossible to resist
Tensley All Blocks Estate Blend 2015 is deep, dense ruby/purple. With a spicy nose of jammy red fruit, garrigue, and anise jumps out of the glass. Yet succulent and full-bodied, with juicy fat flavors of red and black fruits. While finishing with a sweet florality and fine-grained tannins, tinged with licorice and wild herbs. Drink now through 2026.
93WA | The Tensley All Blocks Estate Blend 2015 is a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. Notably, from all the blocks of Joey’s two estate vineyards: Colson Canyon and Tensley Estate. While the Grenache and Mourvèdre dominate this cuvee. And it offers lots of spicy red and black fruits, licorice and herbes de Provence like aromatics. Full-bodied, elegant and seamless on the palate. So, it’s already impossible to resist, yet my money is on it cruising in the cellar for a decade.
Jeb Dunnuck calls All Blocks 2015 ‘Elegant & Seamless’
Joey Tensley, who according to Robert Parker has “flirt(ed) with perfection” earning 99 points for his Estate Syrah. Furthermore, keeps giving lovers of blockbuster red blends so many fresh reasons to hold him in such high regard. Yet, here’s one more: Tensley’s recently-acquired Colson Canyon Vineyard boasts 16-acres of prime grapes in Santa Barbara’s Santa Maria Valley sub-appellation. And, exactly the same site as his 99-point Syrah.
Vinous raves “A beauty in every way”
Tensley All Blocks Estate Blend 2015 has some of the best Grenache ever from the vineyard,” Tensley told us. And the critics agree. Jeb Dunnuck, the longtime critic for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate salivates over the “full-bodied” spicy fruit, licorice, and herbes de Provence. Calling it, “elegant and seamless” and “impossible to resist,” in his 93-point review. Vinous raved that it’s “a beauty in every way.” So, at $39 elsewhere, why try to resist, especially at our Wine Access exclusive price of just $29.99 per bottle?
Winemaker Joey Tensley
Joey Tensley is a Bakersfield farm boy with a savant-like knack for winegrowing. With his wife Lea, they bootstrapped their way to the top. The wines of his competition, the likes of Colgan and Kongsgaard, come with three-digit price tags. However, the couple keeps their pricing modest, even with their brand on fire.
We met with Joey at a private tasting a few months back. He asserted that Tensleys make the kind of wines they’d like to have on their own dinner table each night. Accordingly, he has become not only a massive hit with the wine-buying public but a critical darling. “Joey Tensley continues to make some of the most unctuous, decadent, yet balanced wines from Santa Barbara County,” declared Jeb Dunnuck. “And if you factor price, you can’t beat them.”
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It was love at first sight for Joey when he originally spied the rugged Colson Canyon Vineyard back in 1997. Perched high up at an elevation of 1,400 feet, the combination of warm days and cool nights produce dense, fruit-forward wines with opulent jamminess. In 2016, Colson supplied the velvety mouthfeel and rich dark-berry profile of Santa Barbara Syrah. Tensley Vineyard delivered the Cornas-like savory earth notes.