Shooting Star Whites

JED STEELE'S SHOOTING STAR
CARNEROS CHARDONNAY

Vintage

One of the main reasons that Steele Wines are so successful is our second label Shooting Star. It gives us a place to put wine which, for any number of reasons do not fit the profile for a Steele Wines Bottling. Shooting Star acts as a safety valve and allows us to offer very nice wines at very attractive. With the extra fruit from our Carneros vineyards Sangiacomo and Durell, we produced this flavorful and affordable Chardonnay.

Vineyards

The area around the top of San Francisco Bay known as Los Carneros has a maritime climate with lots of morning fog in the summer and cool evenings. We get grapes from the Sangiacomo family whose vineyards are on the adobe clay soils between the town of Sonoma and the Petaluma Gap and from the Durell Vineyard, which lies just behind the first hills of the Sonoma Valley. Both of these vineyards add a citrus fruit aroma, and flavors that are reminiscent of peaches and melon.

Winemaking

The style of the wine is different from previous bottlings as we were able to ferment all of the wine in oak barrels. Most of the new barrels went into the Steele Cuvée and single vineyard Sangiacomo and Durell bottling. The remaining barrels were typically four to five years old with a few new barrels used for flavor and aroma. The wine is still lighter and crisper than the typical Steele Chardonnay bottling.

Food Pairing

A great value and an easy wine to enjoy make this Carneros Chardonnay a great candidate for anyone’s house wine or a reserved spot in any picnic basket.