Placer County Wines
2023 Starfield Vineyards “Hope Rising” a White Wine Blend of Marsanne and Roussanne
Note it should state 2024 vintage!
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Background on Marsanne & Roussanne Grapes
This has long been one of my favorite white wine blends. When given a chance to review this wine, I was excited to taste it. Marsanne originated in the northern Rhône Valley of France, likely named after the village of Marsanne. Thomas Jefferson called it “the first wine in the world” when blended with Roussanne.
Roussanne came also from the Rhône Valley of France, likely between Lyon and Valence, and was first documented in 1781. Roussanne besides being blended with Marsanne, is one of the six white grapes allowed to be used in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Roussanne was reintroduced to California in the 1980’s after many early plantings were lost to phylloxera and Prohibition period.
In the final 2024 Grape Crush Report for California by the USDA, it shows over one third of the white wine grapes crushed being Chardonnay. Roussanne represented only .00045% of the total tonnage crushed and Marsanne being slightly higher at .00088%. The actual tonnage for Roussanne and Marsanne were 637 and 1,234 tons respectively. The largest harvest for Roussanne came from San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties with over 33%. 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. This also got my attention to try this wine!
The Wine – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The wine being a blend highlighted the key characteristics of both wines. The classic blend has a complex flavor with stone fruit (peach & apricot), floral hints and a spicy nutty quality. They are generally dry and have a full-bodied texture, often referred to as having a waxy trait. The blend is 45% Marsanne, 45% Roussanne and with 10% being Viognier. Viognier in small doses is added to enhance the aromatics (floral characteristics) and provides a richer, silkier texture and full body to the blend.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
This wine provided on the eyes a light straw coloring which was just one of two surprises this evening for this wine. Visually seeing this pale coloring and then being “blow away” with the perfume or aromatics of honeysuckle was a nice surprise. The second surprise was on the viscosity of the wine being medium whereas many wines of similar blends were more on the medium-heavy side. Once on the palate the stone fruits specifically peach, tangerine and honeydew provided a large mouth filling and heavy weighted sipping experience. The finish was soft and embracing with smoothness and gentle with a faint hint of the “waxy characteristic”. 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:
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Hope Rising is named after a gold mine near the Starfield Vineyards. This is their new label capturing the Sierra Spice with the trees and the beauty of the night sky from the vineyard. When the wine is released, it is expected to be $36/bottle.
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 one of our favorite meals, Swiss Cheese Chicken.
Our usual pairing is a nice Chardonnay and was extremely pleased with the Marsanne/Roussane blend as an alternative. The blend worked wonderfully with savory flavors of the meal and the creaminess of the melted cheese. The nuttiness of the Swiss cheese was only enhanced and complemented the wine. The smoothness of the wine harmonized with the butter and cheese used in the preparation of the dish.
The Swiss cheese chicken recipe includes pieces of chicken breasts cut in half, layered with Swiss cheese, cream of chicken soup, white wine, crumbled croutons, and topped with melted unsalted butter then baked for an hour. Accompanied by rice and steamed broccoli. The buttery aspect of the meal was wonderfully aligned with this wine. A very good food and wine pairing.
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 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