I find it hard to believe that anyone can produce a Pinot Noir as fine as Shooting Star's 1993 for under $10 a bottle. With the aromatics and taste of a $20 Pinot Noir (or $30+ red burgundy), this light to medium ruby-colored wine displays a ripe nose of red and black fruits, sweet, round, ripe, black-cherry flavors, fine spice and acidity, and a generous, medium-bodied finish. It may be the finest value in Pinot Noir in today's marketplace. Drink it over the next 1-2 years. Shooting Star is the less expensive, secondary label of Steele (Jed Steele's middle name is Tecumseh, meaning "born under the sign of a shooting star"). The 1993 offerings reviewed in this issue are an admirable group of modestly priced wines that offer immediate gratification. Tel. (707) 279-0213 (Steele winery)