About Us

Our Philosophy
Winemaking
Family Heritage
Pizza
The Vineyard
The Gardens

Our Philosophy

We believe great wine begins with great land. Our vineyards sit high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where volcanic soils, mountain air, and generations of family tradition come together. Every bottle reflects our philosophy of stewardship, sustainability, and a deep respect for place.

The Starfield Estate

We planted our estate in the volcanic soils of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at an elevation of 2,400 feet. Our vineyards are located within the El Dorado AVA, the highest average elevation AVA in California. The mountain terrain, climate, and soils contribute to the unique aromatic and spicy character of Starfield wines. 

Vines on Steep Slopes

At Starfield, our vines grow on steep, volcanic slopes. To protect precious topsoil, we farm regeneratively with permanent native cover crops that enrich the soil and have remained untilled for over a decade. These rugged soils are naturally low in nutrients, which keeps the vines small and their yields limited — resulting in concentrated, intensely flavored grapes.

Cold Spring Weather

Due to cold spring weather in the mountains, our growing season starts late, at least 6 weeks later than in coastal regions. That means our natural grape acids don’t drop as much during the growing season as acids do on the coast. This gives our wines a natural, refreshing, bright acidity. 

High Elevation Varietal Character

Our elevation not only provides a cooling effect during the day, 10 degrees cooler than the Valley, but thinner air at higher elevations also makes the sunlight more intense.  More UV light reaches the fruit zone, which causes our mountain grape skins to thicken. Since grape skins contain most of the flavor compounds that develop in wine, our vineyards produce wines rich with aromatics and varietal character.    

Sierra Spice – A Defining Element of El Dorado Terroir

Forests of Ponderosa pine, Incense cedar, and Douglas fir surround our vineyards. During the growing season, these conifers release terpenes and other aromatic compounds to attract pollinators and defend against insects. These aromatic compounds settle on grape skins and add subtle notes of fresh pine, lemon, and basil to the wine, which provide the telltale spiciness that characterizes our El Dorado wines. 

Winemaker Rob Stinton with his two dogs in the vineyard
Starfield Vineyards and Winey Events Apple Hill

Classic Winemaking

At Starfield, everything begins with taste. We’re obsessive barrel tasters, letting flavor guide every decision in the cellar.

Red Wines in Small Lots

We ferment our red wines in small batches of 1–6 tons to capture the unique character of each vineyard block. The smallest lots are fermented in one-ton bins with careful punchdowns, while larger lots are tank-fermented with regular pumpovers. All red wines undergo malolactic fermentation to soften acidity and round out mountain tannins.

Field Blending

To add aromatic lift and complexity, we field-blend part of every harvest. Syrah with Viognier is a favorite, but we also co-ferment sparkling wines, rosés, and other small blends.

Special Care for Each Variety

Every grape variety receives its own unique yeast, fermentation temperature, and handling, tailored to the specific vintage conditions.

Barrel Aging

We age red wines for 18 months in French, Hungarian, and American oak — typically 10–50% new — layering oak character with our naturally spicy mountain fruit.

Blending for Layers of Flavor

Trial blends begin in May, following the harvest. Wines continue aging separately for another 14 months before the final blends are created, producing robust, complex, and aromatic Starfield wines.

White Wines in Small Lots

We ferment white wines in small lots, whole-cluster pressed and fermented either in barrel or temperature-controlled tanks. High-acid varieties, such as Viognier and Fiano, often undergo malolactic fermentation to achieve balance, while lower-acid whites, like Marsanne and Roussanne, retain their crispness.

Lees and Stirring

Fresh lees are sometimes transferred from tank to barrel, where stirring adds body and texture.

Barrel Aging

We age white wines for 9 months in primarily neutral French oak, blending just before bottling to build complexity and freshness.

The Pizza Kitchen at Starfield Presents

Roman-style pizza in the Sierra Foothills

We’ve always believed a great winery deserves great food — not an afterthought, but something worth driving to Placerville for on its own. That’s why we launched our Pizza alla Pala program in partnership with Alastair Hannmann, member of the World Pizza Champions known throughout Northern California as The Pizza Buddha — to help create the Pizza Kitchen at Starfield.

The result is Pizza alla Pala (sometimes called Pizza alla Taglio): thick, airy, Roman-style rectangles with a crust that’s crisp on the outside and light as a cloud inside. We use a mix of imported Italian flour, and locally produced California wheat, both organically grown, to build a dough that ferments slowly and develops real flavor. Toppings often come straight from 24 Carrot Farm, just across the road, along with local El Dorado County producers we’ve grown to trust.

Round it out with seasonal apps — think charcuterie boards, shareable bites, and fresh salads — and you have a lunch worth lingering over, a glass of estate wine in hand. Starfield is proud to be an Apple Hill® Winery.

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Starfield Roman pizza spread
Starfield's food offerings presented on a table with their estate grown wines. Pizza alla pala, Roman-style pizza, garlic focaccia bread and sauce dip served in mini lodge pans, and caesar salads.
Pizza Buddha — Alastair Hannmann Cutting a slice of pizza at one of his original pizza concepts, Joyride Pizza

A Family Heritage

Three Generations of Winegrowing

Starfield builds on three generations of family winegrowing, beginning during Prohibition when Tom’s grandfather partnered with Louis M. Martini to produce sacramental wines.

Planting Shell Creek Vineyard

Tom continued the tradition by planting Shell Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles while completing a master’s degree in food science at UC Davis. After a successful career in the Bay Area, he returned to wine in 2011 and launched the Starfield Vineyards brand in Napa.

Rob Joins the Venture

While a student at UC Davis, Tom’s son Rob discovered his passion for winemaking and switched to Viticulture and Enology. Together, Tom and Rob expanded their expertise with extensive wine tours in France, laying the foundation for Starfield’s style.

Finding El Dorado

In 2012, they acquired a 67-acre hillside estate in the Sierra Foothills. Today, Rob serves as Winemaker while Tom focuses on winegrowing and the estate’s gardens.

Sierra Foothills Estate

We planted 31 acres of grapes on our hillside vineyards east of Placerville, choosing only varieties which grow in southern Europe near the Mediterranean Sea. These Rhône, Italian and Spanish varieties are traditionally grown on rocky hillsides in warm Mediterranean climates. There they produce delicate, floral white wines, and savory, robust red wines. We call these varieties our “Mountain Mediterraneans.”

We have planted seventeen different varieties in twenty-four blocks of roughly 1.5 acres each. That small block size allows us to place each variety in its preferred microclimate, while allowing an entire block to ripen evenly, so that we can harvest each variety at optimum maturity.

Our red varieties from the Rhone are: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Counoise, Tannat, Cinsault. From Italy we planted Aglianico and Barbera. From Spain Tempranillo. And from California (originally from France) Petite Sirah.

Our white varieties from the Rhone are Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier. From Italy we planted Fiano, Vermentino, Muscat Blanc and Muscat of Alexandria.

Hand holding up a glass of Starfield Vineyards Rosé with a rose bush and vineyard view

The Gardens at Starfield

To share the beauty of El Dorado’s mountain terroir, Tom and Rob created wildland gardens at Starfield, guiding guests through the vineyard and into the landscape.

10 Acres of Forest, Woodland, and Ponds

The Gardens at Starfield extend over 10 acres of forest, woodland, and ponds. They are inspired by the ferme ornée — decorated farm — style of English landscape architecture. George Washington incorporated many of these style elements in his Mt. Vernon estate, as did Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.

Guests Take a Path Through the Landscape

The main element of the design is a path that takes guests on a circuit through the landscape. At Starfield, there are over three miles of paved paths and roads, bordered by a wide variety of flowers and shrubs, shaded by natural pine forest, oak woodland, and a wide range of maples, scarlet oaks, river birches, aspen, gingkoes, and tupelos.

The path starts at the Rose Arbor just outside the Tasting Room. The arbor extends over 300’ from the Tasting Room to The Ridge, where it connects to the Lake Trail, Forest Trail, and Big Canyon Trail. It’s covered by hundreds of Iceberg and Sally Holmes climbing roses, whose light fragrance enchants visitors in spring and summer, and which produce dazzling sprays of white flowers year-round.

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