KELSEYVILLE, Calif., June 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lake County winemaker Jed Steele has been making wine longer than many of his customers have been enjoying it, but even at 72 he still relishes crushing grapes, filling barrels and making blends.
"It's a very special thing to love what you do," marvels Jed, "it's like not working at all, and every vintage is different."
Steele's hard work paid off recently when his Shooting Star brand was chosen by Wine & Spirits Magazine as one of their 2018 All Stars, an award that honors brands that consistently pass the magazine's scoring panels with wines under $20. The article appears in the magazine's June issue.
On the heels of that recognition, 2015 Shooting Star Lake County Zinfandel was featured on NBC's TODAY Show on June 20th as a top Summertime Wine pick. TODAY's wine experts Leslie Sbrocco and Ray Isle appear monthly on the show to recommend some of their favorite wines.
Jed Steele created Shooting Star because he works with grape growers who produce incredible grapes that sometimes don't fit the criteria for his Steele wines, but make great wines on their own. Jed wanted a line of (mostly) Lake County wines to offer by-the-glass, and he wanted an outlet for esoteric wines such as Aligote, Blaufrankisch and his sparkling Syrah, Black Bubbles. All together, Jed makes 12 separate varietal wines under the Shooting Star label.
Jed Steele started in the wine business in 1968 working in the cellar at Stoney Hill, then became the winemaker at Edmeades Winery in Mendocino County in 1974. At Edmeades he produced the first commercial ice wine in the U.S. and he emulated the Hospice de Beaune in Burgundy by bottling a special Cabernet Sauvignon, the proceeds from which went to support a local health center. This was the first time a California wine was bottled specifically to support a medical facility.
In 1980, Steele produced the first red Rhone blend in California, made from Mendocino Grenache, Petite Sirah and Carignane, and in probably his grandest coup in wine, while working at Kendall-Jackson Winery, Jed developed the concept and style of the Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay, still the most popular Chardonnay in the history of California wine.
Jed went on to start his own wine brand in Lake County in 1991. He expanded the business, bought Mt. Konocti Winery in Kelseyville, and moved his production to that facility in 1996.
Today Jed continues his visionary ways by crushing 16 different varietals and producing 40 different wines, most under 1,000 total cases. Steele Wines owns five vineyards. He also leases three additional vineyards from the Dorn family, original settlers of Lake County, and he buys grapes from families he's worked with for many years, from Santa Barbara County to Washington State.
More information: https://www.steelewines.com/.
Contact:
Kamlin Fasano
843-344-7020
[email protected]
SOURCE Steele Wines
Related Links
WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?
Newsrooms &
Influencers
Digital Media
Outlets
Journalists
Opted In
Share this article