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The flagship is the 2018 Syrah Noir and there were a scant five barrels made. Fermented with 30% stems and brought up in 60% new French oak, it's a deeper, richer, more blockbuster styled beauty that offers a monster bouquet of smoked black fruits, espresso roast, raw steak, ground pepper, and flowery incense. This deep, full-bodied, opulent Syrah stays beautifully balanced and has subtle background oak, good acidity, ripe tannins, and a great, great finish. It's an incredible, singular Santa Barbara County Syrah that has a touch of Côte Rôtie La Turque-like character! Give bottles 2-4 years of bottle age, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following 15+ years or more. The 2018s from Tensley are some of the finest wines he’s made. They have the classic, opulent style he’s known for paired with more freshness, purity, and acidity. His wines age beautifully, but my money is on his 2018s evolving even longer. The 2019s are close in style, yet have even fresher, more elegant profiles. These wines will put on weight over the course of their élevage, and this is certainly another brilliant vintage. If you take prices into account, dollar for dollar, these are some of the greatest wines out there.
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Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Syrah Noir is a five barrel cuvée taken from two marginal sites, one in Colson Canyon and the other at Tensley, where poor soils stress the vines and yield tiny berries. Inky dark fruit, new French oak, mocha, licorice and espresso are all kicked up a few notches in a sumptuous, unapologetically flamboyant wine. The Noir is not exactly subtle, but it has tons to offer. Readers who enjoy opulent, hedonistically opulent wines will flip out over the Noir. I would give it a few years in bottle, as the oak needs to integrate fully. The 2018 spent 20 months in oak, which is about six months longer than the other Syrahs, and saw 60% new wood, also more than the other wines.
The deep purple-black colored 2018 Syrah Noir, a finished barrel sample, offers up wonderful aromatics of roasted coffee, dried violet, fried sage and bacon fat with licorice, warm chocolate, cedar, graphite and a deep, intense core of warm black/blue fruits plus red cherry sparks. Full-bodied, it floods the mouth with energetic flavor layers, supported by firm but fine, grainy tannins and great freshness to counter all that flavor, finishing very long and layered. This is going to be spectacular!