2012 Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay Vintner's Reserve

Smoke, butter, pastry and tropical fruit meld together in the 2012 Chardonnay Vintner's Reserve, a tasty, budget-friendly wine to drink over the next few years. Every time I look at the production numbers of the Vintner's Reserve I am stunned. Kendall-Jackson makes 2.23 million cases of this wine. In case you are wondering, when the lees are stirred here, it means 4,400 barrels are touched every day.

The ubiquitous, omnipresent, 2.23 million cases of 2012 Chardonnay Vintner’s Reserve attracts all sorts of ground fire from bloggers and critics, who are incredulous that anyone could barrel ferment every ounce of this wine, which is sourced from the Jackson Family vineyards, 80% of which are in the Central Coast and 20% in Mendocino and Sonoma. Every barrel is stirred once a month, and the wine is kept on its lees for six months. Much has been made of a secret formula that adds sugar or, as the Germans do, suss reserve, but the wine tastes relatively dry, and that is confirmed by lab tests. Few honest people would call this a sweet, cloying Chardonnay. The beautiful 2012 Chardonnay Vintner’s Reserve offers lots of white peach, pineapple and honeysuckle notes, no oak, a lovely texture and fresh, lively flavors. Who knows how many retailers stack bottles of this in their windows and expose it to heat, but if properly stored, this is the real deal ... again. It should provide plenty of pleasure over the next year. Readers who are not familiar with the late Jess Jackson, who created the huge Kendall-Jackson empire from scratch should read the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Humes titled A Man and His Mountain. It reveals just about everything you want to know about Jess Jackson, with whom I used to taste regularly, and admired and respected enormously. From his millions of cases of Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay to his small production, boutique and cult wineries that are clearly world-class, Jackson was a visionary. His influence on both the value end of the wine market and the more sophisticated, luxury echelon can never be underestimated. Following are the current and upcoming releases from Kendall-Jackson, which is now run by Jess Jackson’s wife, Barbara Banke. Their longtime winemaker, Randy Ullom, and his team are responsible for these wines. The remarkable thing about all of these offerings is that they are from estate vineyards. While the Jackson family has been criticized for using the generic California or regional appellations, the quality is in the bottle, and after all, wine is about the enjoyment of consumption, not for collecting dust in a museum. Tel. (707) 571-8100