On Wednesday about 15 of us convened in the back “Benton” room at our good friend Louis Benton restaurant for a tasting through six wines made by Jed Steele. Jed as you know is a crazy busy wine consultant who makes wines for all sorts for people but also makes wine for his own label Steele, and it’s second label, Shooting Star. We’ve been having fun with his wines since we opened and thought to highlight what he does in this tasting. Here’s my notes from the event with added commentary.
First off I want to stress that we started right at 6:30 P.M. as scheduled. I actually was looking at my phone’s clock and started speaking as soon as the time changed. Bradford arrived shortly thereafter and then individually welcomed everyone in the room. “Well, hello there. My name is Bradford. It’s so good to see you. Welcome, welcome . . . Bradford . . . Hello there.” We were off with a bang and the excitement of the first two wines was palpable.
The first wine was the 2006 Shooting Star Aligote from Washington State. Aligote is a white grape most commonly associated with Burgundy, as well as being the redheaded stepchild to Chardonnay. This was a much richer version than the French Aligote’s I’ve had in the past. It was pale gold with very little rim variation. The aromas were Asian pear, golden apple, Mandarin orange, lifting floral notes, spice and a whiff of lanolin. The flavors reminded me most of a nice baked apple pie with accents of spice and hazelnut. Excellent acidity and a lovely finish made this a crowd pleaser. Alongside the Aligote we poured the 2005 Shooting Star Chardonnay from Medocino. Apparently we learned that Jed declassified two lots from his single vineyard Chardonnays because they didn’t “fit” what he was working on. This wine was freaking gorgeous as we soon found out. It was pale gold with an ever so slight variation. The aromas leaped with notes of red apple, fig, vanilla spice and toast. (At this point I’m sending a shout-out to Ruth Speyer, who we’ve not forgotten. She would always laugh out loud whenever she would read my descriptions that ended with “and toast.”) On the palate the Chard was certainly a bit rounder and had that total ML (malolactic fermentation) feel to it with lots of buttery, creamy stuff going on around the intense apple notes. I loved the Chardonnay. The crowd preferred the Aligote. It was certainly an interesting contrast.
Next we tried the 2006 Shooting Star Riesling from Lake County. It was pale gold with little variation. The aromas were rich with lots of lime, lemon zest and apricot. It is a very clean and crisp wine, despite a touch of residual sugar. On the palate the peachy aspect of Riesling really came across, with more lime and hints of nectarine and spice. It was a really fun wine and the appetizer came out at this point which was stuffed shells with a crazy spicy sauce, and the Riesling cut through great and really shined.
Next we tried the 2005 Steele Carneros Pinot Noir. It was lovely. A pale, intense garnet with little variation, the wine began somewhat muddled aromatically for me. With vigorous swirling I began to get some earthy notes of strawberry reduction, red cherry, caramel and spicy stuff. It’s definitely a tick young at this point but was drinking great after ten minutes. It’s got lots of pedigree for a wine under $25, I can highly recommend it.
Next up we did a vintage comparison between the 1999 Steele Lake County Merlot and the 2003 Steele Lake County Merlot. The ‘99 was medium garnet with more than a slight haze and medium variation. Its aromas were meaty at first, kind of like turkey thighs (know what I mean? Hey, I’m trying to be accurate) with oodles of black cherry and anise. On the palate it was lovely with darker fruit than the aromas, more like black cherry with big notes of brown sugar, star anise and yes Ruth, toast. I thought this wine was at a plateau and showing beautifully. The 2003 Merlot was clear and medium ruby with little variation. The aromas were jumping out of the glass with lots of burnt sugar and campfire smoke with cassis and black cherry lurking beneath. On the palate it was classic Merlot with black cherry, cassis, tobacco and spice with a touch of mocha. This wine was drinking great and had the tannin to survive a few years aging. I thought the 1999 was more interesting but both were lovely. The ‘99 was a testament that Steele wines age.
Last up we had the Steele 2004 “Red Hills” Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendocino. It’s medium ruby with little variation. The aromas are rich and intense with notes of black cherry compote, cassis and brown sugar. On the palate the wine is full-bodied and relatively dry, despite how ripe it seems. Flavors of red cherry, cassis, Very Berry and toasted spice linger nicely on the finish. A day before, Ryan and I had been to Detroit and tried both the 2004 Dominus and the 2004 Beringer Private Reserve, which hover around a hundred and a quarter retail. I seriously think the ‘04 Steele Cab would have hung in there quite nicely in a comparative tasting, and goes for eighty bucks less. Nice wine.
Another amazing tasting, I had tossed Steele in the “just another California winery” bin – and their wines really showed up. They’re awesome values for what they deliver, especially the Shooting Star Chard and the Steele Cab.
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