NEWBIE INTRO: Stellareese Wine

Greetings,
Stellareese Wine is a small production wine label in the Napa Valley specializing in predominately single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and as of recently, Grenache.
Rachel Stellareese Davies grew up in Calistoga, at the North end of the Napa Valley. Geoff Davies Grew up in St. Helena, the next town over. Stellareese Wine found its genesis in the cellars of T-Vine where Rachel learned to make wine from her friend and mentor Greg Brown. In 2007 Geoff and Rachel sourced fruit from a 2 acre vineyard on the Valley floor in Calistoga that formerly was sold exclusively to Chateau Montelena for their reserve Cabernet. Since 2007 Marcey’s Vineyard has been the backbone of the Stellareese Wine project. Rachel made Stellareese through the 2012 vintage.

Geoff’s passion for nature, wine and to pursue our dream of growing Stellareese led him to a career change in early 2013. Geoff began working for Thomas Brown at Outpost Estate and making Stellareese along side some of the most sought after wines in the US; Schrader, Maybach, Casa Piena, and Outpost among others. for the last 5 years Geoff has been handcrafting Stellareese wine at this state of the art facility on Howell Mountain and has taken our wine project to new heights. We are honored to be a part of this forum and to share our wine with you.

Stellareese 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, Marceys Vineyard, Calistoga AVA Juicy and opulent with dark, savory undertones. The trademark floral aromatics of Marcey’s vineyard are present, with blackberry, red fruit and crushed herbs. The entry of this wine is silky and inviting with generous amounts of red and black fruit. The finish is long and saporous with nuances of cocoa and tobacco. The tannins are fine grained and integrated yet offer a bit of texture. 2014 was a fantastic vintage for Stellareese, a great long growing season without the threat of late rains. The fruit hung at leisure and we picked when we thought it was just right. A slightly lower than average yield gave us with 250 cases of Cabernet.
https://www.stellareesewine.com/products/2014-stellareese-cabernet-sauvignon-marceys-vineyard-calistoga-ava

Stellareese 2016 Lucid Poet Grenache, Paras Vineyard, Mt Veeder AVA.
This is a winemakers wine, esoteric and complex. It took us many years to find the right circumstances to make this wine the way we wanted to. Our Grenache is made in the old world style. 100% whole cluster fermented for 21 days in an open top fermenter with just a bit of light foot treading on pick day. This method allows for intricate nuances of flavor and tannins to develop. Incredibly fragrant with aromas of strawberries, lavender, white pepper, and delicate floral notes. The palate is racy, with pomegranate, strawberry & red cherry interwoven with vibrant red fruit followed by layers, of smoked meat, black pepper and a hint of graphite, framed by delicate, integrated tannin. Just 2 barrels were made in neutral french oak.
Our Grenache will ship in March and is only available to our mailing list members and to Wine Berserkers members on Berserkers Day. https://www.stellareesewine.com/products/2016-stellareese-lucid-poet-grenache-futures

Our intention is for all of the wines we make to convey the passion we have for this part of the world and represent the land from which they are made.

Please reach out with any questions.
Cheers,
Rachel Stellareese Davies & Geoff Davies

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I haven’t had Stellareese’s Grenache, but I have had Grenache from Paras Vineyard and it was mighty fine stuff. This looks like an interesting offering.

Welcome, Rachel and Geoff.

Definitely welcome to the asylum.

Grenache, I’m interested. Looking forward to it.

Interesting Grenache.

Looking forward to your BD offer(s) … [cheers.gif]

Thank you! We are happy to be involved and have a great offer in the works!

Thank you Peter! We are really proud of our wines and have a really nice offer for Berserkers day.

Can’t wait to share it with you, we’re really proud of it! [flirtysmile.gif] We have a really nice offer for Berserkers Day.

Such a fun grape to work with but really difficult to find good mountain fruit around here. The vineyards we source from are impeccable and the style of wine we’ve made is a little esoteric, and really delicious! We only produced 2 barrels, and have not yet released it publicly, so we’re excited to offer it here Saturday.

RS

You describe your Syrah as “esoteric”. Can you expand on that a bit? What other Syrah’s could you compare it to in terms of style and profile?

Thanks, Paul

Hi Paul, We make a 100% Grenache using only mountain grown fruit. Our method of doing 100% whole cluster fermentation and letting the fruit ferment for 21 days in an open top fermenter, lends the wine additional nuances from the extended stem contact and the process of fermentation happening within the actual berry (carbonic maceration). Grenache can be very fruity and lighter bodied when made in the usual way - destemming and crushing. The stems add some structure and definition by way of tannin and the extended fermentation adds character to the aromatics and flavors of the wine. Hope you try it, it a really special wine and just 48 cases made!