Shooting Star Reds

JED STEELE'S SHOOTING STAR
ZINFANDEL
LAKE COUNTY

Tasting Notes

This wine has aromas of raspberry and other ripe black fruit, butter, and just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg.  The tannins and acids in this wine are soft but distinct.  Cedar tones with just a hint of plum make the finish a wonderful explanation point.

Vineyards

Here in Lake County there are not as many old-vine Zinfandel vineyards as in other wine-producing regions of California and around the world. (We do source grapes from a 1901 vineyard for our Steele Catfish Vineyard Zinfandel.) Most other Lake County Zinfandel plantings are 25 years old or younger. We source two of these younger vineyards for our Shooting Star Zinfandel: Hansmith and Duncan. Both are located near the dormant volcano Mount Konocti, the dominant geographical feature in Lake County. These vineyards drain well, have excellent exposure, and are not overly fertile.

Winemaking

All of the fruit is hand harvested and quickly delivered to the winery. The grapes are de-stemmed and gently crushed to tanks for fermentation. We ferment each vineyard lot separately. Following fermentation we pressed and racked the individual vineyard lots to American oak barrels for 8 months. Based on our stylistic approach to Shooting Star wines this Zin is lighter and fruitier than our Old-Vine Steele Zinfandels. We used approximately 80% neutral barrels and 20% new barrels in order to capture as much of the aroma and flavor of the grape as possible.

Food Pairing

We love it with barbecued tri-tip, pork roast, and mushroom and fontina pizza.