2017 Tensley Fundamental Chardonnay Central Coast

With an allocation of Joey Tensley’s mouthwatering 2017 Fundamental Central Coast Chardonnay ready to go, we’ve got to emphasize, italicize, and triple-underline our advice on Fundamental:

Figure out exactly how much you’ll need. Then order double, because the 2017 Fundamental is the kind of white wine that tends to disappear fast anyway—a refreshing, full-bodied, and gently oaked Chardonnay—so whatever you order is unlikely to last.

Last time we offered Joey’s Fundamental Chardonnay, one of our Wine Team members ordered a case, which arrived at the start of May. He cracked a bottle immediately. Then he brought one to a party and gave one as a gift. Then a couple of friends came into town for the weekend, the weather got good—and once the grill was fired up over Memorial Day weekend, the Fundamental’s fate was sealed. The case didn’t make it through the month.

If you’re thinking a case will do, make it two—there’s no better Central Coast deal than the Fundamental Chardonnay. 

Joey has been a mainstay on California’s Central Coast for two decades, known far and wide for what Robert Parker called “high-end, super-duper wines.” With Fundamental, lovers of perfection-chasing wines can enjoy a bona fide Joey Tensley masterpiece for under $20.

“I put my name on my second label,” Joey told us, as we sipped black coffee and watched the sun come up over his home vineyard during our last visit. “I’m proud of it.” 

There’s a lot in the 2017 be proud of: In his two decades on the Central Coast, Tensley has made the kind of sourcing relationships that enable a savvy winemaker to produce stunningly high-quality wines at a fantastic price. Sourced from Monterey and Santa Barbara County, the Fundamental Chardonnay boasts fresh apple flavors, a full body, and a tasteful touch of oak. This is a straight-up crowd-pleaser through and through, and will increase the pleasure factor of any summer gathering, whether it’s two on the porch or 20 by the pool.

We can probably thank Joey’s beginnings for helping inspire his focus on value. He rose out of an unlikely place—Bakersfield, California, a hotbed of agriculture but a world away from the fine wine world—eventually grabbing the bottom rung of the wine ladder by taking a $9-per-hour winery job. The first four barrels he ever made were hidden in the back of the winery where he worked. Now, although he owns 18 acres of vines and is widely considered a master of the Central Coast, Joey’s still a Bakersfield farm boy at heart—one whose work ethic, focus, and insistence on quality shows in his Fundamental wines. They’re what’s open on Joey and his wife Jennifer’s table every night, and they display the Tensley name, front and center.   

We thought we knew what we needed, and we were way off. Let our mistake be your lesson: Don’t underestimate how delicious an under-$20 California wine can be—or how fast it can disappear. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Sweetness
• Acidity

• ABV 13.50%
• Enjoy right away
• Drink Up
• % Chardonnay
• Serving temperature – 48°
• Cork