Community Tasting Note

Saturday, December 22, 2018 - Well I just drank, or rather attempted to drink, the first of my 12 bottles of Tensley Santa Barbara County Syrah. It was seriously bad wine. Harsh sour notes and overwhelming prunes were all that appeared. This bottle came from a massively discounted offer from Invino and I worry about the provenance. It was labeled as "Santa Barbara County"

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9 comments have been posted

Comment posted by Laz4wine:

12/31/2018 11:30:00 AM - Seems a shame to downgrade a bottle which sounds clearly corked, pulls the CT community average down compared to many other positive reviews
Comment posted by bound4er:

1/1/2019 4:02:00 PM - Just popped open a bottle. No signs of being corked or off. Quite tasty to be perfectly honest.
Comment posted by 3daywinereview.com:

12/30/2019 2:20:00 PM - As mentioned you should click the flawed feature. I am guessing heat damage. Did you pop open another bottle? If it is bad return the case.
Comment posted by D.Callahan:

9/22/2020 3:44:00 PM - In answer to these comments, I tried several bottles with very similar results and they would not refund without getting the bottles back which would take way too much time, effort and cost. Also note the tasting note from Chill92 who had a similar experience with steeply discounted 2015 Tensley Syrah.
Comment posted by 3daywinereview.com:

9/22/2020 4:58:00 PM - I rarely have trouble returning bottles locally in Minneapolis for flawed bottles. Once in a while there is some initial hesitance. If someone would not take them back due to a flaw then I would not shop there again and let them know that. Also never under estimate how many bottles are not temp controlled when shipped locally, nationally and internationally. I have seen local wine shops shipping to homes on days in the high 90s with no temp control. Would not want to be the last stop.
Comment posted by Laz4wine:

9/22/2020 7:29:00 PM - Point was to be fair to the CT peeps and keep flawed wines flawed, regardless of your ability/effort to return. Most retailers take partial bottles back for at least credit toward other options, or full refund. The stats tell the story of why your experience is an outlier, so best to exclude from sample population. If someone gave it 98-100 pts I'd have the same beef.

Average score (all users): 89.2 pts.
Median score: 90 pts.
Std. deviation: 6.46

95-100: 0
90-94: 67.65% (23)
85-89: 26.47% (9)
80-84: 0
< 80: 5.88% (2)
Flawed: 2.78% (1)
Comment posted by D.Callahan:

9/23/2020 12:47:00 PM - The reason I did not just say the wine was "Flawed" was that I was not sure it would bring enough notice to what I see as a problem. This was not an issue of just one bottle. The other low rating note I referenced indicated a very similar issue from a different supplier. I do not care about not getting refund.
Comment posted by Laz4wine:

9/23/2020 8:06:00 PM - Ok we'll agree to disagree, attention to a problem on CT is why they have a Flawed check box IMHO. If you feel it makes sense to post as a score outlier to call attention to what is likely an anomaly due to factors far beyond the winemaker's control that's your call, and I did call out Chill92 for the same behavior but no response, plus the latest post shows another spoiled bottle checked as flawed....maybe there's a pattern emerging, but seriously suspect it's distribution issues not the wine making. Can see you have a deep cellar too, if that's how u roll that's your choice, will not be a fan fwiw.
Comment posted by D.Callahan:

10/3/2020 6:45:00 PM - Dear Laz4wine

I certainly don't have a problem if you disagree with my rating for this wine. My problem with Tensley, at least their Syrah, stem from 2010 where a wine I purchased from a local wine store was seriously flawed and as it was labelled under the wine store's name distributed to just their store, I felt justified in rating it poorly rather than flawed. The wine was labeled as coming from Colson Canyon Vineyard and described as being made by Tensley. I had purchased an earlier vintage with the same description and very much enjoyed it. This event colored my decision on the rating you objected to so vociferously. I worry about decisions made in the Tensley Winery about how to sell off excess wine. The store labelled wine and the bulk discounted wine I purchased more recently are worrying to me. Of course the wine store could have been lying about who made the wine as I have no way of checking so I may be in error through misinformation. I'm certainly sorry my decision on the current rating bothered you as I do not wish to sully the name of anyone nor participate in flaming or other troll behavior.

I really don't keep score on Cellar Tracker interior popularity metrics.

Thanks for your input.