2024 Starfield Vineyards Marsanne – With Scallops a Perfect Food/Wine Pairing
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The Wine – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
This wine as seen in the picture is a very light golden color with a medium viscosity. But don’t be deceived as this a huge MOUTHFULL and MOUTH FEELING wine. 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.
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.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
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 seared scallops with a mango salsa. The mango salsa included chopped mangoes, chopped bell peppers, chopped jalapeno pepper, chopped red onion, lime juice, chili powder and minced cilantro. Served with fresh asparagus and risotto. Add the mango salsa to the rice and that enhanced the rice tremendously.
Marsanne with seared scallop is a classic and luxurious pairing. The rich texturally full body and stone fruit flavors paired nicely with natural sweetness and buttery weight of scallops. The wine with its waxy mouthfeel mirrored the dense and tender bites of the seared scallops. Additionally, the acidity cut through the scallop preparations.
The Winery
Photo ©Michael Kelly
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 ©Michael Kelly
The winery’s 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