A local restaurant did a dinner yesterday featuring 4 Steele wines

We started off with a Chipolte scallop with 2002 Steele Pinot Blanc. The
scallop was the tastiest little morsel I have encountered in a long
time, the wine was a little heavy for a pinot blanc and had just a hint
of oak. Scallop A+ wine, well it really isn't fair to grade as if I used
Dale's criteria a wine that someone else might like would go down the
tubes. The bad news was that this was my favorite of the night.

Second wine served with a hearts of palm salad (Again divine) was a 2003
Steele Cuvee Chardonnay. It was light, one could get the citrus notes,
but the wine was while not too much, still, oaky, my wife found it to be
nice, too heavy for my tastes and I knew I was in for a long evening
with two more to go. The chardonnay was in most respects a good wine,
not spectacular but good and well integrated.

Next came for some rason three cheeses a Boursin and a goat cheeseand a
gorgonzola, the last two pureed to resemble the Boursin in texture.
These were served on nice crispy toasted french bread (I know it is bad
when I remeber the textures of the food but struggle with the wine)
Served with 2003 Steele Carneros Pinot Noir. Let me just say that the
night before I had opened a bottle of Mercurey premier cru 2000 Clos des
Combins from domaine Menand which was just short of heaven, no ecstatic
vocalization but a profound sense of that all was good in the world a
wine that just said, I am here enjoy me, maybe a tad too sexy for church
and yes I liked it a lot, but then I liked the Drouhin Mercurey that I
had two days prior which pricewise was probably closer to the Steele it
was simple unpretentious but smooth with a fresh fruit nose and decent
body.

So what was the Pinot Noir like, They served about 5 ounces, I left
about 4. Too much oak entirely though in defense it was integrated with
the wine and didn't fight, it just over powered a tad and burned on the
way down (Oak does that to me and that is why I am so anti furniture)

So we proceeded on, not without some trepidation to the Filet encrusted
in pistachio (excellent although mine was switched with my wife's)
Steele's Catfish vinyard Zinfandel. (a confession, I would not have
chosed this dinner on my own, my daughter bought it for us as a
present). This was the BIG wine of the night which meant huge fruit,
huge dose of oak and absolutely no table manners at all. This is a
tasting wine I drank most of the ounce of Pinot with this course and
enjoyed my water noting that I would have no trouble driving home, a
plus I suppose.

It was a first, my wife drank more wine than I. I would return for the
food, but hading seen the wine list would definitely bring my own wine.

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Thanks for notes.
Goat cheese with red is a tough combo.
I too have found the Steele reds oaky.