If you’ve ever met Jed Steele, you’ll know he’s humble, approachable, and distinctive, like most winemakers. One could describe Jed’s wines with the same words.
Jed has been making wine in California for 44 years. He started his career at Stony Hill, where he worked in the cellar. He then went to UC Davis, where he earned a master’s in Enology, and soon landed a position as the first-ever winemaker at Edmeades in Mendocino, where he spent a decade. He next helped launch Kendall-Jackson, as the wine juggernaut’s first winemaker. He made KJ’s first nine vintages, and left when production hit one million cases.
He launched his own label, STEELE Wines, in 1991 — and today makes wine under four different labels: Shooting Star, Writer’s Block, Steele, and his reserve line, Steele Stymie. The grapes come from across the West Coast — from California’s Lake County to Washington’s Snipes Mountain. And the grapes are unusual. As you can see by the wines I tasted (notes below), Jed and his team are thinking outside the box when it comes to grape varieties.
The Shooting Star Aligote comes from a vineyard in the Snipes Mountain, Washington’s second-smallest AVA. The Burgundian grape has been grown there since the 1970s. Jed attributes the Chardonnay boom of the 1980s to the availability of Aligote, and thus, this wine. I’d love to try this one side-by-side with the A. & P. Villaine Bouzeron, an Aligote from its ancestral home that both Jed and I adore.
Sticking with the odd-ball varieties, the second wine I tasted with Jed was his Blaufränkisch. This grape hails from Austria, and famously has a number of synonyms. It’s called Lemberger in Germany, Kékfrankos in Hungry, and Frankovka in Croatia — and those are just a few of its names!
Blaufränkisch is often called the “Pinot Noir of eastern Europe,” as it’s light and marked by high acid and non-assertive tannins, and it exhibits flavors and aromas dominated by red berries. Blaufränkisch will stray into the spice, smoke and game territories faster than Pinot Noir. Oak is generally used sparingly in Blaufränkisch production.
Perhaps the wine I was most excited about tasting with Jed was his Writer’s Block Lake County Counoise. Counoise is traditionally a blending grape in the wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and an excellent compliment to Mourvèdre’s weight. It’s brings a ton of aromatics and lift; I’d love to see more of it planted in ht United States. Jed gives his Counoise a bit of a backbone by incorporating a small amount of Syrah and Grenache (approximately 10 percent of the total) into his final blend. My only other experience with domestic Counoise has been a positive one as it is blended into the Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel.
I was also eager to try Jed’s Tempranillo, as the grape has found a comfortable home in parts of California and Washington. Tempranillo is synonymous with the great Spanish regions of Rioja and Ribera del Duero, and when made well, it creates wines that are fruity, savory, smoky, and lush.
Check out my tasting notes on these wines below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »
Long-time readers may have seen me focus on Steele Wines in the past. And that’s because there’s something about this producer’s old-school aesthetic, budget friendly appeal, and diverse and delicious portfolio, that I think deserves attention. Owner/winemaker Jed Steele has been vinifying grapes for 50 years; this year Steele Wines marked its 28th anniversary.
