Starfield Vineyards 2023 Grenache El Dorado County, CA ($42)

I was not familiar with Starfield until relatively recently despite having a pretty good rapport with El Dorado County and the Sierra Foothills, and I have to say that this wine is really impressing me. So many California wineries over-work Grenache and try to make it inky and dark. This beaming, lucid, fresh version of Grenache is really impressive. It leads with fresh wild strawberry fruit, builds with a bit of cinnamon and spice, and finishes with a lovely violet and blueberry vibrance. This wine just gets Grenache's fruit-forward nature right where so many wineries get it wrong. It's a wine with tremendous finesse. I somehow chose to serve it with Mexican food (enmoladas if you must know) and it was nothing less than a perfect match. Props to winemaker Rob Sinton. This is a refined, addictive, incredibly food-friendly wine. (93 Points)

- Tim Teichgraeber 

 

Beguiling Madrona Cabernet from El Dorado

I've been fortunate to receive a couple of care packages from the El Dorado Winery Association as they aim to maintain the strong head of steam as a region on the rise.  It seem that many watchers see El Dorado in the Sierra Foothills as a region to watch. I've been saying it for years.


I hadn't had many wines from Paul Bush's Madrona Vineyards in the last few years, but I think his 2010 is really impressive for a wine that should retail for a bit under $30. It has pretty aromas of dried rose, mulberry, red currant and sage, is medium-weight and has well-integrated tannins. I wouldn't age it too long, but it's beguiling right now. An exceptionally elegant but flavorful product of the cool 2010 vintage. (90)