Peter - Wine Specialist, South Glendale

Wines consumed in summer months are sometimes needed to jolt us out of our humdrum states of affairs with gusto, giving us a rude, sunbaked awakening, like an intense Rhone Style Red grown in California soil fit for someone’s carne asada, chicken, or beef brisket Barbeque.

Joey Tensley’s Syrah will awaken you out of your summer doldrums, the  dog days of summer, that might have already been wearing on you by mid-July or early August.

Jeb Dunnick has called Tensley's wines some of the most intense expressions of Rhône varieties on the Central Coast. 

Dunnick praised the 2023 from the region as "balanced, concentrated, and classically styled," noting that the long, cool season led to wines of exceptional elegance.

Wine Access describes the 2023 vintage as "prismatic," boasting rich blackberry and black plum aromas. Hints of cedar, cracked pepper, and violets balance the intense dark fruit, maintaining a brilliant freshness despite its deep concentration.

Shiraz from both Australia and Syrah from Santa Barbara are guaranteed show stoppers for summer cookouts.

Remember, when Joey Tensley released his first wine in the late ‘90s, hardly anyone was making Syrah in Santa Barbara. 

Today, the region’s sunny, windblown hills are renowned as world-class for the variety—and Joey Tensley is revered as one of the great California Syrah craftsmen who’s ever stained his hands with the grape.

Cheers!