TN: 2020 Tensley Syrah (USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County)

WINE TALK
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John - would love to find Smith’s wines at $20; would be backing up the truck. Larry generally has some great Berserker Day deals so you might want to check him out.

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  • 1 on the Colson Canyon and especially the mention of Andrew Murray. Get yourself some Roasted Slope or Watch Hill. Good juice.
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MN is an interesting market. We have a lot of wealth but most of those people are into Shafer Hillside, Caymus, etc. We do have a handful of wine geeks but not enough to support the great wines of Washington. I bought recently 2015 Figgins for $60, and more amazing 2016 L’Ecole No. 41 Merlot Estate Walla Walla Valley for $25.00.

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Have never tried a Jeffurs. What style are they offering?

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To be honest I am not into Jaffurs these days. There style is more of rounded feel it seems to me it has changed quite a lot over the years and since Craig sold the winery things have changed. Some people like this style and you may too so give it a try. The former wine maker Matt Brady who is very good is now at Samsara.
The best bottle of Jaffurs that I ever had was the Verna’s Vineyard bottling of past but there were many great SBC bottles selling in the $20’s price range. That vineyard got sold and new owned Babak Shokrin is doing a great job with it.
The 2017 Shokrin Syrah which is reminiscent of Verna’s is at the top of my list along with Holus Bolus Franc de Pied.

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Who did they sell to? Hard to keep track of the family operations anymore as so many are selling off to these giant corporations.

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Just a note that Stephen is a fantastic winemaker - trained under both Craig and Matt and has his own small label, Leif Motif as well. They are still sourcing from all of their usual spots, and are now offering more pinots, too. Craig is still ‘involved’, oftentimes seen at the winery and involved with giving advice on final blends. I know that they still have plenty of fans who have been purchasing their stuff for quite some time, including Tom Hill and Michael Martin here on the board who have posted plenty of notes on current releases.

Cheers.

29

Jaffurs is my favorite producer of Syrah. Craig used to produce some great wines, but the new winemaker Stephen Searle is equally as good, maybe better because he offers more balance in his wines.
They make an appellation level Syrah for about $22 ish and single vineyard ones for $45 ish. They also make a best of the barrels blend called Upslope that I would put up against any Syrah including Alban for about $60 ish. The club offers 15%-20% discounts on the wines and some are club only.

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Is it winery only or some retailers carry the wines. I want to try some! [cheers.gif]

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I know that Jaffurs has some distribution. You may just want to reach out to them directly - they’re usually pretty responsive.

Cheers

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Will reach out when it is not 20 below in the tundra.

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I do not recall the Jaffurs Syrah being all that special. Good, but not so good I left the winery with any. We did leave with several bottles of their Petite Syrah though. The PS is some pretty damn good stuff.

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Grabbing another six of these this weekend. 10 Below some good Syrah works.

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Petite Sirah. [pillow-fight.gif]

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Not sure how relevant the spelling is… If so, please educate me, cause I honestly don’t know, but I am curious. This article would suggest it’s all over the board.

https://sallybernstein.com/beverages/wine/vintnerschoice/syrah_vs_sirah.htm

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It’s how Jaffurs’ spells it and you referenced their bottling.

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Petite Sirah is different than Syrah.

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Where are you buying it from? I can only find it here at Total Wine.

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Thanks for the review. I am breaking one of these out for a blind syrah tasting I am putting together for a few friends. This sounded like a solid choice to throw in as a curveball against some Rhone and Australians with a little age. I figured it would need some additional decanter time, so glad to se a suggestion there.