2024 Starfield Vineyards Marsanne – Light and Refreshing
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Background on Marsanne
In the final 2024 Grape Crush Report for California by the USDA, it shows over one third of the total white wine grapes crushed being Chardonnay. Marsanne coming in at .00088% of the white wine grapes crushed by tonnage at 1,234 tons. The largest harvest for Marsanne, with almost 70%, came from Madera, Fresno and surrounding central valley counties. These grapes from the Sierra foothill counties were very small.
The Wine – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
This wine as seen in the picture is a very light and clear color wine with a medium viscosity. On the nose faint hints of stone fruits and floral notes of honeysuckle. On the palate a delicate vanilla and almond flavors bounced side to side in the mouth. The finish was a bit abbreviated with a slight sweet and savory note mixed with minerality.
The wine is made with 95% Marsanne and 5% Roussane coming in at 12.9% alcohol. Only 72 cases were produced.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The other note on the finish was the “Sierra Spice” which Starfield Vineyards describes as being its sense of place amongst the trees on the property of “Ponderosa Pine, Cedar, Douglas Fir and combined with the mountain air of resin, bark and needles” from the trees. They sent me a test tube to inhale the aromatics:
The Food and Wine Pairing – “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Paired this evening with a special swordfish at Verona18 Restaurant with swordfish being in season. It was marinated overnight in a Mediterranean rub of fresh oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil and olive oil.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The dessert was a fabulous cheesecake with a black and blue berry compote!
Note: this wine was so light and delicate the food pairing must be very well thought out in advance. While the swordfish was a good choice and another at the table had a chicken entrée that was good, it was limited to those two dishes this evening.
The Winery
Photo from Starfield Vineyards
The winery was founded in 2012 by Tom and Rob Sinton with plantings of 31 acres on the hillsides east of Placerville, California in El Dorado County. They are located at 2759 Jacquier Road.
Map courtesy of https://uscountymaps.com/el-dorado-county-map-california/
The names of the wines, especially their new labels starting with the 2023 vintages, highlight the history of the region from the Gold Rush with wine names as Miner’s Inch and Rising Hope. These two are for a nearby mine.
The winery produces 17 varieties of wines comprising of mostly Rhone varieties (66%) and Italian (30%) and a few Spanish varieties. The vineyards have been farmed using sustainable and fish-friendly farming since their inception.
Photo from Starfield Vineyards
The wineries name Starfield refers to “Star Fields”, sites where in their words “fruit develops the optimal balance of aroma, flavor and texture”. They also consider what they refer to as Sierra Spice, the aroma and taste characteristics that come from the western facing forests surrounding the vineyards. The local trees are Ponderosa Pines, Cedars and Douglas Firs and their oils provide earthy and woodsy forest aromatics from their oils.
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly
https://californiawinesandwineries.com