Starfield Vineyards

Cantina e Vini

Tom Sinton began his winegrowing story when he planted the Shell Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles in 1972. He managed the 200-acre property while earning his masters in Viticulture and Oenology from UC Davis.

Starfield Vineyards began in 2011 as a project in Napa and Sonoma, buying grapes from growers who managed "star" fields, vineyards that were maintained impeccably and showcased their site's unique fruit-forward terroir. While this was happening, Robert Sinton, Tom's son, was earning his degree from UC Davis in Viticulture and Oenology too. Not satisfied with just sourcing grapes, we began scouring the entire West Coast for regions where we could create our own outstanding vineyard that showcased fresh, fruit-forward wines. After exhaustively tasting through many regions, the Sierra Foothills of El Dorado stood out with a long history of winegrowing, but with a fresh outlook and direction.

The 31-acre vineyard was planted in 2013-2015 and the first vintage from the Starfield Estate was 2016. It was planted to 17 different grape varieties from Northeastern Spain, Southern France, and Italy. The site was landscaped to invite visitors out to experience the winegrowing environment, El Dorado has some of the most varied soils and microclimates across California and there's no better way to experience that at Starfield than by walking our trails or picnicking by the vines.

We produce fruit forward wines with an emphasis on freshness and restrained oak characteristics, we aim for a balance between drinkability and complexity. Each variety we produce has its own personality and we strive to listen to the grapes and showcase what we think best suits the varietal character of any given wine, no two varieties are made the same. We vinify each variety separately then blend to showcase what we think best represents a blend or varietal wines.

We make four red blends, our two Rhone Red Blends are The Big Canyon and The Bronson Bros, our two unconventional blends are Jacks Are Wild and The Miner's Inch (comprised of a mix of Rhone, Italian, and Spanish grape varieties). We make one Rhone White Blend, Hope Rising, consisting largely of Rhone white varieties, although we've sometimes found the Vermentino and Fiano complements this blend well. We make the blends first and everything that doesn't end up in a blend is bottled as a varietal wine.