2004 Shooting Star Blue Franc - $14.99

June 26, 2006

Background: The Shooting Star label is Jed Steele's lower priced line of wines. The Steele winery does not grow its own grapes, but rather focuses on the production of wine. Jed Steele believes in going "beyond the terroir" and blending grapes from many different vineyards to produce his wines. The Shooting Star Blue Franc is produced from Lemberger grapes grown in Washington state. The Lemberger grape is originally from Austria and at one time was called Blau Frankisch, literally “blue grape from France.” Jed Steele was worried that using the name Lemberger would make people think of limburger cheese, so he decided to rename the wine "Blue Franc", after the original Austrian name. The label is an old 100-franc note with a watermark of someone associated with the Steele winery. I'm not sure who is depicted on the 2004 Blue Franc watermark. It's a man with a San Francisco Giants baseball cap and a beard.      

My Tasting Notes: I've had about four bottles of this wine, all of which have been a pleasure. I recommend chilling this wine to about 68 degrees before serving. The nose is faint with hints of ripe berries. Medium-bodied with tons of blue and red fruit flavors. Creamy texture that reminds me of blueberry cheesecake. Soft tannins, but with a nice amount of acidity. This wine is not aged in oak, so there are no oak flavors. 

The Meal: Left over "asado" or Argentinean BBQ with salad. The "asado" consisted of chorizo, skirt steak, and blood sausage. In my opinion, this wine was a little too soft for the heavy meats in the asado, but my brother thought it was perfect. I would have preferred a more tannic wine, but it definitely was not a bad pairing. This is such a quaffable wine that I really do not think you can go wrong with it. 

My Score: 87

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