Steele Wine Dinner at Cafe Maxx with Jed Steele

"Drinking wine is just a part of life, like eating food." - Francis Ford Coppola
And we have to drink wine everyday just like we eat food everyday!! 

This week we have five events!  And although tomorrow night’s Chateau Palmer tasting back to 1966 is sold out we still have a few seats for the vintage port tasting on Friday featuring fortified wines back to 1945, including epic vintages like 1955, 1963, 1970 and 1977!  Check out the line-up of wines on our web page for the complete line-up and the rest of the events for 2015.

And November also means it’s time for our good friend Jed Steele to pay us a visit as Jed is the only winemaker that we do a dinner featuring his wines on an annual basis.  It has been since the year 1990 when he was working at Kendall Jackson winery, which also just happens to be the first wine dinner that I ever participated in.  Jed was the one that got me started down the path of these AWESONE wine events that we do on a weekly basis now.

We salute our best friend in the wine business- come out and taste the newest releases from the man of Steele and experience a five course tasting menu pre-pared by Chef Olvier Saucy.  The fee for this dinner is $95 + Tax + Gratuity, for reservations call 954-782-0606.

Steele Wine Dinner at Cafe Maxx with Special Guest Jed Steele
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
7:00 PM

Reception

Oysters four ways:

Pistachio fried over mango and dried cranberry salsa
On the half shell with green peppercorn mignonette
Roasted with shiitake mushrooms, bacon and garlic butter
Baked with spinach and Pernod hollandaise

Shooting Star Sauvignon Blanc 2014
Price: $13.50      Sale $11.88         case $138

We ferment the juice in stainless steel tanks to preserve the wonderful freshness and character of the grapes. With the exception of this Sauvignon Blanc, all our other white wines spend some time in barrel. We make this wine without any barrel fermentation or aging. Additionally, the wine does not go through malo-lactic fermentation. This helps to preserve the crisp acidity and fresh fruit flavors in the wine. The Shooting Star Sauvignon Blanc is a field blend, containing approximately 10% Semillon from the same vineyard. We feel the Semillon adds a bit of richness to the wine.

First Course

Chilled Maine lobster with cured foie gras, Mache lettuce, marinated Farro and citrus salsa

Steele Pinot Blanc  Biend Nacido 2013
Price: $18.50       Sale $16.28          Case $189

The fruit from this area tends to have tropical fruit aromas and flavors, as well as peach and melon characteristics and we also find the hallmark green apple character common in Pinot Blanc. The nose is aromatic with a soft and creamy mid-palate.

Second Course

Duck confit philo purse, braised Swiss chard and peppercorn wild mushroom sauce

Steele Pinot Noir Bien Nacido 2009
 Price: $42.75      Sale $37.62          Case $437

 Bien Nacido is a well-known vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. On a bench that overlooks the Sisquoc River, this highly-esteemed vineyard is quite large and has numerous slopes and aspects. Bien Nacido, literally Spanish for “Born Well”, is one of the vineyards in Santa Barbara where Steele Wines purchases Pinot Noir grapes. Many of the most prestigious wineries in California purchase grapes from this vineyard. Our favorite block for the single vineyard wines is “N-Block” which gives the most intense fruit.

Third Course

Coffee & Valrhona chocolate seared filet mignon over Ancho chili & cherry mole sauce queso fresco and chayote squash empanada

Steele Stymie Merlot Lake County 2010
Price: $39.75       Sale $34.98          Case $406

Tasting Notes Stymie Bench Vineyard typically yields a Merlot with a rich, deep red color and firm body, exhibiting aromas of chocolate, jammy fruit, tobacco and pepper. The palate reveals a rich, well-structured wine with layers of ripe red currants, anise, chocolate-covered cherries, a peppery mid-palate, and just a hint of coffee. This high-quality fruit produces an excellent, long-lasting finish and smooth tannins. It’s a perfect “special occasion” wine and pairs well with big hearty foods. Exceptional with any full-flavored dish, such as any preparation of lamb or beef, steaks, grilled venison chops or ragout. You will be missing out if you don’t try this Merlot with chocolate.

Dessert

Fuji apple and almond tart over caramel crème brulee sauce

1997 Late Harvest Chardonnay

The level of sugar in the shriveled grapes would be the equivalent to a Trockenbeerenauslese in Germany. Usually, we figure on getting around 175 gallons per ton from the white grapes. With this late harvest wine, we got around 60 gallons per ton. The winemaking protocol was similar to that used by Chateau Y'quem. Barrel fermented in French oak barrels (50%) new. Very long, slow fermentation that lasted seven months. Finally stopped when the alcohol rose to the point where the yeasty were inhibited (when the alcohol gets high you would think that the yeast would become "uninhibited"???). Aged for three years in barrels prior to bottling. With such a high level of alcohol and sugar, this wine should age for another ten years easily

A bit about Jed Steele:

The very first time we ever saw Jed Steele he was plying his trade in the summer of 1979 for tiny Edmeades Winery in the laid-back Anderson Valley of Mendocino. We didn't realize then that he already had a wealth of experience behind him - his first job in winemaking was back in 1968 in the cellars of Fred and Eleanor McCrea at Stony Hill. In those days we thought Stony Hill was the best Chardonnay produced in America. Hard to believe that Jed has been making wine in a period that spans five decades. He has probably made more volume of fine wine than any other single winemaker in California - certainly nobody understands the many diverse microclimates of California Chardonnay better than he. Back in 1983 Jess Jackson, the founder and proprietor of Kendall-Jackson, knew exactly what he was doing when he hired Jed. Jackson decided to launch his venture with one of the very best talents in California. Throughout the 1980's Kendall-Jackson and Jed Steele amazed us with an incredible array of high quality offerings - reserve Chardonnays, Zinfandels, Cabernets - even late-harvest Rieslings - that were as good as any produced in the state. All the while, the winery churned out ever-increasing numbers of the "Vintner's Reserve" Chardonnay; during the Jed Steele era Kendall-Jackson's production of that wine soared from 9,000 cases to three quarters of a million cases annually.

Despite the enormous critical and commercial success, somewhere, somehow...things went sour between Steele and Jess Jackson. There were rumors well over two years before Steele left the organization that he was unhappy with the corporate direction at Kendall-Jackson. Things had just become too big for him. According to Steele, "There certainly is a degree of power and professional prestige in turning out six figure boxes of good Chardonnay annually, but there is something about the days at Stony Hill that I felt I needed back. The touch, the feel, the intimate contact with the wine is necessary to me as a winemaker in the practice of my craft. I had lost this intimacy at Kendall-Jackson."

In August of 1990 Steele agreed to wind down his relationship with Kendall-Jackson and signed a consulting deal for $400,000 with Jackson. Jed would train the new winemaker and provide for an orderly transition. On May 30, 1991, Jackson canned Steele and refused to pay the last $275,000 of the consulting contract. Steele sued and Jackson countersued in what was one of the most acrimonious trials ever seen in normally serene Lake County. The combatants traded bitter charges and occasionally snapped at one another outside the courtroom, according to Santa Rosa's Press Democrat, which covered the trial. Jackson won on his counterclaims that Steele interfered with Kendall-Jackson grower relations during his term of employment by negotiating grower contracts for the new Steele wines. Furthermore, Jackson won on the charge that Steele had wrongfully revealed a "secret process" for making Chardonnay to Steele's new employer, Stimson Lane. Stimson Lane, owners of Washington State's Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest, are determined to turn their Napa Valley property, Villa Mt. Eden, into one of Kendall-Jackson's major competitors. Steele is now consulting with them to help them one day reach that objective. The successful "secret process" counter charge was the most sensational news that came out of the trial. At first many observers scoffed at the countercharge that there could be such a thing as a "secret process" in an industry noted for its openness and free exchange of ideas. When Kendall-Jackson's claim was upheld, many felt that it would have a chilling effect on the future trading of information among vintners. Steele, incidentally, won the right to his additional $275,000; but observers labeled the trial a "draw", considering the fact that Steele had to pay damages. Although Jess Jackson tried to paint the struggle between himself and Steele as a battle between a small, family-owned-and-operated operation (Kendall-Jackson) and a huge, multi-national company (Stimson Lane is owned by U.S. Tobacco), one could not help but be amused by the irony. Kendall-Jackson is no small peanuts - this winery (though family owned) is an aggressive, major player in the California wine scene. The little guys here were Jed and Marie Steele - good, modest folks with no well-heeled backers and only Jed's good name on the bottom line of the bank notes.

Despite being embroiled in a sensational trial, Jed Steele moved forward to open his own winery and get back in touch with wine. His first vintage (1991) debuted in 1993 to exceptional critical acclaim. Steele bottled a Chardonnay with a California appellation that was an amalgam of four of Jed's favorite vineyards; he also produced small separate bottlings (less than 200 cases of each) from several of those vineyards. That first year Steele also took a big leap into the Pinot Noir business - a surprising move because he had never made Pinot Noirs at Kendall-Jackson. It was probably more serendipity than design. The opportunity arose at harvest's end in 1991 to get some superb pinot noir fruit from the Durell Vineyard and the Sangiacomo Vineyard, and Jed seized the moment "just a little scared by it all." The critical response to Steele's 1991 Carneros bottling and 1991 Sangiacomo bottling was extremely positive and encouraged him to make Pinot Noir an important part of his portfolio. (Steele now produces six different Pinot Noirs). With the 1992 vintage Steele introduced his first Pinot Blanc from the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Barbara (source of some legendary Chardonnays from Au Bon Climat and others). The first four vintages have been some of the finest Pinot Blancs produced in California. The Wine News selected both the 1993 and the 1994 as "Best of the Year". The recent 2004 is again outstanding.

In the last several years, Steele has added additional wines to the portfolio. Beginning with the '92 vintage Steele began producing about 1000 cases of Zinfandel from the Pacini Vineyard in Mendocino, and the winery has released a DuPratt Zinfandel from the 1993 vintage. Jed first made Dupratt Zinfandel in 1974; his 1987 Kendall-Jackson Dupratt Zinfandel was the finest Zinfandel we have ever tasted and one of the greatest wines Jed has ever produced. Zinfandel, we might add, is Jed Steele's favorite wine. Steele now produces excellent value wines under a second label called Shooting Star - Steele's middle name is Tecumseh, the Indian Chief who was said to have drawn good luck from being born under a meteor of shooting stars!

Shooting Star Wines from Steele

Steele Shooting Star Black Bubbles
Price: $18.00    Your Price: $15.84
Quantity in Stock: 7

From an idea born in the Land Down Under we proudly unveil our newest creation, Black Bubbles. Always on the lookout for something different, Jed Steele’s son Quincy discovered sparkling Shiraz, an Aussie tradition, while working at the D’Arenburg Winery. Bringing home the idea of a Northern California version inspired Jed to formulate a unique Syrah blend from some of our finest contracted vineyards in Lake County.

2012 Shooting Star Aligote Washington State
Price: $14.75    Your Price: $12.98
Quantity in Stock: 3

Aligoté is a variety, which is little known but widely planted. It is in fact the fourth most planted wine grape variety in the world, with huge plantings dominating Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Moldavia. In France it is the other white grape in Burgundy, but has always played second fiddle to the noble Chardonnay grape. Generally, Aligoté is planted in either hilltop or cooler valley locations because it is more cold-tolerant. It has never been planted in any commercial quantity in California, but in Washington State, where cold winters are a fact of life, Aligoté has found a happy home.  The Newhouse family has farmed the land south of Sunnyside Washington for generations. They were some of the first wine grape growers and were always experimenting with growing different varieties including two acres of Aligoté, planted in the 1970's. These grapes were made into varietal wine by one Washington winery for many years, for a time even outselling its Chardonnay. When the boom for Chardonnay took hold in the late 1980's, the sales of Aligoté declined and eventually the grapes were blended into the Chardonnay. Given his penchant for working with lesser-known varietals, when Jed had the opportunity to take over the contract for the fruit he jumped at the chance.  Our Aligoté is barrel fermented, but we use older oak barrels rather than the 30% new oak that we typically use for Chardonnay. The wine is crisp and clean, a wine with a nice balance of fruit and acidity. Flinty, mineral elements mix with a light floral hint on the nose, followed with the suggestion of tart/sweet apple on the palette, making it a wonderful, versatile food wine.

2012 Steele Shooting Star Blue Franc
Price: $14.75    Your Price: $12.98

This wine is very similar to the wines that I tasted in Austria more than 25 years ago. Unlike other Steele and Shooting Star red wine bottlings, our Blue Franc receives little, or no, oak aging. Some liken our Blue Franc, depending on vintage, to Pinot Noir in lighter years and Zinfandel in the riper vintages. Sometimes it is totally akin to a top-flight Gamay from Beaujolais. The wine is clean, crisp, and unpretentious with tons of fruit, including warm berry pie, complementing the traces of pepper, almond, cherry and cinnamon. Our Shooting Star Blue Franc has soft tannins, medium body, great color and is the perfect red wine to enjoy over the summer with any festive occasion.

2012 Steele Shooting Star Merlot
Price: $14.75    Your Price: $12.98

We are always on the lookout for classic varieties planted in ideal locations. Here the red volcanic soils, ample sunshine, almost no fog and the 1500 foot plus elevation and cool night temperatures, all add up to a wonderful place to grow red grapes. We harvest Merlot from two growers: Dorn and Stymie Bench (aka Silva) Vineyards. The Dorns have the most dramatic vineyard in Lake County. Perched on a hollow on the northwest corner of the dormant volcano Mt Konocti, you look down 1000 feet to the lake and see a perfect circle in Dorn Bay: an ancient cinder cone. The Stymie Bench vineyard is a manicured jewel on the bench land near Highland Springs Reservoir, close to Lakeport. The soils are great and the vines really produce some of the best fruit we have ever seen from Lake County.

2012  Steele Writer's Block Syrah
Price: $14.75    Your Price: $12.98

Syrah is planted throughout California, and increasingly in Washington State. California Syrah is in general stylistically more closely associated with that of the Rhone Valley, Cote Rotie, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Chateauneuf du Pape, Cote Du Rhone, and further South in the Languedoc-Roussillon appellation in France, than the Australian Shiraz style, although growing conditions, vine clones, and winemaking practices can in California produce styles of both types. Syrah vineyards planted in California are increasing clonal diversity which the wine from the vineyards benefits from using more recently cleared European clones (compared to earlier clones from Australia). Syrah expresses differently depending on where it is grown, and so is described as usually containing some smoky flavor and aroma, bacon fat, violets, dark berries, minerality, peppery, chocolate, coffee.

2012 Steele Shooting Star Zinfandel
Price: $14.75    Your Price: $12.98

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. 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.

2012 Steele Shooting Star Pinot Noir
Price: $13.50    Your Price: $11.88

The unique growing conditions of Lake County provide a few places to grow Pinot Noir. We have selected a Pinot Noir clone (Clone 32) that is the latest ripening clone in every California Pinot Noir clonal trial. The late ripening nature of clone 32 allows the fruit to ripen in the later (October), and cooler part of the season, keeping on par with the early ripening Dijon clones of Carneros. This is the first vintage of our Pinot Noir grown in Lake County. We selected 2 Big Valley sites suitable for growing Pinot Noir, Lyon Vineyard at the foot of Mt. Konocti and Dorn Vineyard on the banks of Kelsey Creek both contribute different flavor profiles, that balance each other well. The Lyon vineyard provides structure and rose petal scents. The Dorn vineyard gives to the blend strawberry flavors and soft tannins.
 
2012 Steele Shooting Star Cabernet Sauvignon Lake County
Price: $15.75       Sale $13.86          Case $161

Cabernet Sauvignon has not been the best red grape for most parts of Lake County, making vineyard site selection a crucial decision. A long season is needed to get the proper sugar development and to help reduce some of the natural herbaceous character. We always blend in a small percentage of Merlot and Cabernet Franc from the Dorn Vineyard. We age this wine in used American Oak as well as some used hungarian barrels for 12 months.

Steele Label Wines

2013 Steele Chardonnay California Cuvee
Price: $20.25    Your Price: $17.82
Quantity in Stock: 23

Our flagship white wine, California Cuvee Chardonnay, really shows off Jed Steele’s wizardry in blending. As with all great wines, the process begins with the selection of the right vineyards. We have worked with most of the great Chardonnay vineyards in California and have chosen these six prestigious properties to obtain the grapes for this wine.

Vineyards:  Beginning in the south, the area around the Santa Maria Valley has a maritime climate with lots of morning fog in the summer and cool evenings. We get grapes from Bien Nacido Vineyards, located on the benches above the Sisquoc River and from the Goodchild Vineyard about a mile away across the river.

Farther north we source grapes from the Carneros region, in the southern part of Sonoma County that borders the San Francisco/San Pablo Bay. Cool winds and morning fog are artifacts of the weather pattern in Carneros, making the region perfect for Chardonnay. The Sangiacomo Family farms 1000 acres of vineyards here. We source grapes from their Katerina and El Novillero ranches. The meticulously farmed vineyards of Durell and Parmelee-Hill are slightly further inland and tend to ripen sooner than Sangiacomo.

Again moving north, we arrive in Mendocino County.  The Lolonis Family has been farming in Redwood Valley since the 1920’s, farming organically since the 1950’s.  

Tasting Notes:   The Cuvee consistently exhibits excellent depth of flavor, wonderful acidity and complex aromas. The Santa Maria vineyards add a tropical fruit character to the wine, flavors and aroma of mango, pineapple, and papaya. The Sonoma vineyards attribute citrus character and acid to the cuvee. The Mendocino vineyard flavor profile leans toward citrus fruit, baked apples and cinnamon.

Steele Merlot Lake 2012              
Price: $18.00       Sale $15.84          Case $184.00

This wine is a mouthful of pleasure: lots of fruit, medium tannins and a long lingering finish. We would recommend some cellar time for this wine if only to allow all of the great aromas and flavors properly meld.

Steele Carneros Pinot Noir  2012   
Price: $20.25       Sale $17.82          Case $207

This vineyard, given its coastal influence, produces a wine with bright strawberry and cherry flavors, balanced with hints of jasmine tea and cola. Our approach for Carneros Pinot Noir has always been to produce a classically-styled “pinot-lover’s pinot”, with moderate oak, high-tone fruit flavors, a rich nose, juicy palate and long finish.

2012 Steele Zinfandel Pacini Vineyard Mendocino
Price: $20.25    Your Price: $17.82
Quantity in Stock: 8

VINEYARD: The Pacini family planted this vineyard circa 1940 on the western foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains in Mendocino County. This beautiful old vineyard is head-pruned. Steele Wines purchased the vineyard in 1998 from the Pacini family. Since then, we have been refurbishing the vineyard and replacing vines in the positions where the old vines have died. The location of the vineyard prevents us from irrigating or frost protecting due to the limited water supply. This provides for the intense flavors and aromas in this low yielding zinfandel.

WINE STYLE & TASTING NOTES:  We keep the temperatures on our fermentations moderate to develop the color and flavors inherent in this wine. The Pacini Vineyard Zinfandel ages in American oak barrels for 12 months, using 25% new barrels. This selection of oak allows us to maximize the fruit component while rounding out the structure of the wine. This wine is known for its spicy and brambly character. The nose has a bacon and a white pepper element, and the palate is full of berries, spice, cola, with a dusty chocolate finish. The wine has great structure, and is well balanced

2012 Steele Catfish Zinfandel Lake County
Price: $23.75       Sale $20.90          Case $243

The vineyard is located on the Bell Hill bench of Lake County just south of Kelseyville.  Catfish Vineyard, planted in 1901, is head pruned and stands on its own roots.  Steele Wines purchased the vineyard in 2000 and we have been working to rehabilitate the old vines since that time. Catfish Vineyard Zinfandel, is actually a field blend of a number of varieties, including small amounts of carignan, alicante bouschet, cabernet sauvignon , petite sirah, and cinsault.  Having more than one variety assured the old-time vintners that they would have some grapes to harvest regardless of the spring frosts or autumn storms.

2013 Steele Cabernet Sauvignon Red Hills Mendocino
Price: $22.50    Your Price: $19.80               Case $230.00

Vineyards  The Red Hills appellation in LakeCountyi s a new AVA (American Viticultural Area). The iron-rich, red soil of Red Hills is laden with obsidian, a glassy black volcanic rock that glistens in the afternoon sun. Well known NapaValleygrape grower Andy Beckstoffer bought up a piece of the Red Hills AVA, planting it in Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varietals with which he is very familiar. We have been receiving clone 6 and clone 37 grapes from Andy since 2002.

Tasting Notes:  This wine has a rich, fruit-forward elegance. A spicy fruit and berry core backed up by soft tannins makes it a nice glass of wine for casual sipping among friends.

2012 Steele Cabernet Franc Lake County
Price: $18.00    Your Price: $15.84               Case $184
Quantity in Stock: 9

Vineyards:  While we are not known as a Bordeaux/Cabernet kind of winery (we tend to make more Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel) our location in Lake County allows us to produce several of these varieties in styles which would make our neighbors to the south a bit jealous. One of these is Cabernet Franc. When we started buying grapes from the vineyard of Floyd Silva we found that he was growing some of the best Cabernet Franc that we had ever tasted. Floyd has since then retired and we purchased this vineyard in 2005. The Silva vineyard, now known as Stymie Bench Vineyard is on a gravelly bench, which overlooks the Big Valley area of Lake County. The vines grow well at this higher elevation and show a great balance of flavors, structure and tannins.

Tasting Notes: This wine is a mouthful of pleasure: lots of fruit, medium tannins and a long   lingering finish. We would recommend some cellar time for this wine if only to allow all of the great aromas and flavors properly meld.

2009 Steele Pinot Noir Sangiacomo Carneros
Price: $27.00    Your Price: $23.76
Quantity in Stock: 1

The Sangiacomo family farms the southern part of SonomaCountyin the area known as Carneros. For many years this was just grazing land, thought to be too cold for the production of fine quality wine grapes. To look at the land one would agree that grapes should not do well here: the heavy adobe clay soil and the lack of sun seemed to contradict the accepted viticultural wisdom. However, for varieties which do best in cooler conditions, especially Pinot Noir, this is the place. Since there are many different vineyard blocks we keep each separate during fermentation and aging. For the single vineyard wines we use a blend of the “Pommard” and the “Martini” clone fruit from the “El Novillero” block, of Sangiacomo vineyards.

2011 Steele Out Kaste Red Wine Lake County
Price: $22.50    Your Price: $19.80

51% Syrah,23 % Zinfandel, 11% Petite Sirah, 7% Merlot, 5% Malbec 3% Petite Verdot.  Smooth yet spicy, bold and luscious, this fruit forward wine showcasing some of Lake County's favorite vineyards and varietals.