Steele 'Shooting Star' Black Bubbles - $16.99

Wine Details

Price: $16.99
Producer: Steele
Region: Lake County
Varietal: Sparkling Red
Container Size: 750 ML
Flavors:
  • Sparkling Wine
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Product Description

  • The final Syrah blend was finished here at Steele Wines, using a mix of French and American oak barrels. We then sent it off to a sparkling wine producer to be infused with bubbles. It came back as effervescent, crisp and lively Black Bubbles. Food: From the launch of this wine at our 2006 Harvest Party, Black Bubbles has been a hit. Although well made, cutting edge, and rare, you will find that anytime is a good time to enjoy it. Surprisingly good with various hors d’oeuvres, it also complements any special occasion. Truly a wine for all seasons!
  • Steele and Shooting Star Wines was founded in 1991. Prior to that time, winemaker/owner Jed Steele was the founding winemaker, general manager, and VP of Production at Kendall Jackson for the first nine vintages of that company. Prior to his adventures at Kendall Jackson, Jed worked for 10 years for Edmeades, then a small independent winery in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County, as winemaker and vineyard manager. Jed began working in the wine business at Stony Hill Winery in the Napa Valley in 1968. From mid-1991 until mid-1996, Steele Wines co-leased a small winery in Lake County. In June of 1996, Jed purchased the old Konocti Winery between Lakeport and Kelseyville in Lake County which is where the Steele winery is located today.

Expert Ratings

Ratings   Vintage Source Flavors
WineEnthusiast - 90 Details: Yes, it’s sparkling Syrah, made famous by the Aussies. As dark as a red wine, it’s so deliciously aromatic in cherry pie, chocolate fudge and caramel scents, it makes your mouth water. Once in that mouth, it has the dry effervescence of a sparkling wine, with the weight of, well, Syrah. A curiosity, but a good one. 2003 WineEnthusiast

Food Pairings

Category Pairing
Fish or Shellfish Shellfish (scallops, clams, crab, lobster, shrimp, etc...), Deep Fried Catfish

Wine Terms

Name Value
United States Wineries exist in all fifty states, but the most predominant (and best) wine comes from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington State, with New York gaining a foothold in the industry. American wines make up about 75% of all wine sales in the US. The appellation system uses the term AVA (American Viticultural Area) to determine where wines were produced, but grape varieties can be planted anywhere in the country. American wineries generally use varietal labeling, and government regulations require that the variety on the label must make up at least 75% of the blend (in Oregon it’s 90%). The words reserve, special selection, private reserve, classic, and so on have no legal definition in the US. Some wineries use these terms to indicate their better wines; others use the words as a marketing tool to move lower quality wines off the shelf.
Sparkling Wine Sparkling wines are part of a growing category of bubbly wines.
California Sparkling While California sparkling wines are made in the Méthode Champenoise style, many wineries call their product "sparkling wine" and some even use the Champagne designation. Most sparkling wine producers are found in cooler climates and use the same grapes, primarily pinot noir and chardonnay with some pinot meunier as their cousins from France. The most popular designation is brut, a dry style that is usually a blend; blanc de blancs indicates a wine made solely from chardonnay while a blanc de noirs is made with either Pinot variety (or a blend thereof).
California California produces the majority of wine made in the United States. Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir dominate the wine production in California, but many other varietials thrive in the California climate. Many fine wines are produced in California using Mediterranean grapes.
Lake County Lake County is one of the smaller inland wine regions in California. Surrounded to the west by Mendocino and Sonoma Counties, and to the south by Napa Valley, Lake County's small concentration of vineyards lie in the Clear Lake AVA. The vineyard's here are nestled between steep hills to the west the lake shore. Main varieties grown in this area are Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.