Has anyone discussed this?He was a great guy, a wonderful character.
He was most famous for creating the chardonnay blend at K-J.
He hated working the markets he would rent luxury boxes at various sports venues. People could taste the wine while he enjoyed himself. I remember going to the race track here with him and his team. The only horse I broke even was calledBarrel Boy–he scratched.
Sad indeed…he hosted great Halloween parties in Chicago back in the day.
Sad indeed - but he lived a very full life. He did a lot of consulting back in the day - and was very instrumental in helping Fess Parker and his son Eli start his eponymous winery.
I’m sure @TomHill will have a number of things to say here . . .
One of the good guys. We got acquainted when he was at Edmeades Vineyards, about five miles from my parents’ place in Anderson Valley.
I remember the Hospices de Boonville wine.
RIP. I remember the Catfish Zinfandel, black pepper and all. When Steele closed their doors, I remember remarking, I guess ol Jed’s a millionaire.
Of course I have something to say, Larry.
I first met Jed at a party at Darrell Corti’s when he was still in UCDavis. First met Norm Roby there, too. This was when Darrell lived in downtown Sac near the Capitol district.
Back in the day, the wines Derek Edmeades made at his startup winery were pretty dreadful. When we tasted in my wine group a really bad wine, we’d call it an “Edmeades” ( or a “Husch”). After a few yrs, at Darrell’s suggestion, Derek hired Jed as his winemaker. He turned that place around. He made some of the greatest Calif Zins and Calif Cabs ever made. He made the DuPratt Vnyd famous. Not so much the Anzillotti Vnyd, another great OV Zin Vnyd on the Mendocino Ridge.
The Corti Reserve Cab '78, a single barrel Jed made from far out Cab in Anderson Vlly, at maturity remains one of the greatest Calif Cabs I ever had. Visited Jed a couple of times at Edmeades. He went on to winemaker for Kendall-Jackson. Where he started to leave some RS in the KJ Chard Reserve . It sold like hotcakes. Not sure that’s the kind of legacy I’d want to leave. There was a lawsuit between JessJackson & Jed over the technique of leaving RS in a Chard.
Jed then went on to found Steele Wines up in LakeCnty, were he made somevery good, but not remarkable wines. Always liked his BlauFrankisch wine.
OK, Larry. Did I do good??Will I be invited back?
Tom
So sorry to hear of Jed’s passing. I liked him quite a lot.
I think it was Deron Edmeades. Not Derek. Memory can be tough.
Yup… it was Deron, not Derek.
Tom
My favorite Edmeades wine from the Jed Steele era was Anderson Valley White, which I am pretty sure was only sold at the winery. A blend of miscellaneous leftover bits; usually Chardonnay, Riesling and Gewurztraminer in varying percentages. A plain white label, but cork finished. If I recall correctly, $3 a bottle. It wasn’t fancy, but it was tasty.
May he RIP…KJ Vintners Reserve was my intro to “fine wine” way back when…before that it was beer and Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers…
RIP Jed.
Really cool guy. Met him once at a wine shop i was working at. Loved the Grateful Dead. My kind of guy.
I met Jed at the Danville Hotel restaurant in 1979. We had a couple of Edmeades wines on the list and he did a tasting for us. IIRC, one of the Edmeades wines, Opalessence?, benefitted an organization which was involved with protecting whales. We also carried one of their Zins which might have been from Zeni Vineyard.
Circa 1993 I attended a day at Golden Gate Fields hosted by Jed.
RIP Jed.
Yup… Zeni was one of the vnyds Jed used at Edmeades. For Zin.
And his Pinot was also pretty good… a precursor to what was to come in the AndersonVlly. Too bad he didn’t have any access to Syrah. They hadn’t planted any up there yet because it was “too cold”.
Tom
RIP
Creating one of the most popular and successful Chardonnays in history was quite the accomplishment, regardless of the disdain it received from wine geeks who didn’t like the RS.
Clendenen and I always noted that Jed had some kind of pipeline to middle America.
He got what they liked and made it.
I think the white blend might have been called Rain Wine. Van Williamson worked with Jed at Edmeades? Then Van took Edmeades pretty far himself after KJ bought it.
Rain Wine was a separate bottling - the label was yellow and featured a Mendocino water tower. Anderson Valley White had a white label and little or no graphics.
We could work up a long post about Van, another unique character.
Oooh yes please I’m interested to hear. Gonna pay him a visit in late December.