{{Short description|Vineyard and winery in California}} {{Infobox Winery | winery_name = Kendall-Jackson | winery_logo = File:Kendall-Jackson.gif | location_city = Santa Rosa, California | location_country = US | coordinates= {{coord|38|29|00|N|122|46|07|W|type:landmark_region:US-CA|display=inline}} | appellation = North Coast AVA | former_name = | other_labels= <!--if the winery makes more than one label--> | year_founded = {{start date and age|1982}} | first_vintage = | key_people = {{ubl|Jess Jackson {{small|(Proprietor)}}|Barbara Banke {{small|(Proprietor)}}|Kris Kato {{small|(Head Winemaker 2025-present)}}}} | parent_company = | cases_per_year = | signature_wine = Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay | varietal1 = Chardonnay | varietal2 = Sauvignon blanc | varietal3 = Riesling | varietal4 = Pinot gris | varietal5 = Pinot noir | varietal6 = Merlot | varietal7 = Syrah | varietal8 = Cabernet Sauvignon | varietal9 = Zinfandel | varietal10 = Meritage | varietal11 = Malbec | varietal12 = Cabernet Franc | other_product1= <!--e.g. olive oil--> | other_product2= | other_product3= | other_product4= | other_product5= | homepage= {{URL|https://kj.com/}} | distribution= Worldwide | tasting= Kendall-Jackson Wine Center (Santa Rosa, California);<br />Kendall-Jackson Tasting Room (Healdsburg, California) }} '''Kendall-Jackson Vineyard Estates''' is a vineyard and winery, under the '''Kendall-Jackson''' brand, located in Santa Rosa, California in the Sonoma Valley wine country. As of 2010 Kendall-Jackson was the highest-selling brand of "super-premium" wine in the United States, often compared in blind tastings to 1er Cru wines of Volnay, Burgundy.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Bloomberg|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/08/BUGK1CCJJ9.DTL&tsp=1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526143519/http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-03-09/business/18381798_1_napa-valley-fredrikson-associates-international-wine-associates|archive-date=2010-05-26|title=Napa wineries fall under foreclosure crush|author=Dan Levy, Bloomberg News|date=2010-03-08}}</ref>
==History== {{Citations needed|section|date=August 2018}} [[Image:KendallJacksonWineCenter.jpg|thumb|left|222px|The Kendall-Jackson Wine Center in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California; August 2007.]] In 1974, San Francisco land-use attorney Jess Jackson and his wife Jane Kendall Wadlow Jackson converted an {{convert|80|acre|ha|abbr=off|adj=on}} pear and walnut orchard in Lakeport, California to a vineyard and sold wine grapes to local wineries.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=O'Connor|first=Clare|title=Jess Jackson, Billionaire Winemaker, Dies At 81|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2011/04/21/jess-jackson-billionaire-winemaker-dies-at-81/|access-date=2020-08-17|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref> Jackson even made his own wine under the Chateau du Lac label, largely as a hobby.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/04/business/californian-wins-middle-market-and-ruffles-his-rivals.html|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Californian Wins Middle Market and Ruffles His Rivals|date=4 January 1997|first=Frank J.|last=Prial|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1982, a downturn in the grape market led them to produce their own wine instead of selling the grapes, and the Kendall-Jackson brand was established.
Jackson hired winemaker Jed Steele, who had been leading winemaking and viticulture operations at Edmeades Winery since 1974. A stuck fermentation of the 1982 Chardonnay resulted in a somewhat off-dry wine. It was bottled as is, and became an instant sensation. After bottles were sent to the Reagan White House in 1984, it became the First Lady's favorite,<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=USA Today|title=First lady endorses a different Jackson|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1143807835/|date=21 March 1984|page=29|url-access=subscription|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and the K-J Chardonnay was soon nicknamed "Nancy's wine" by San Francisco Chronicle's columnist Herb Caen.<ref name="Dunne">{{cite news|newspaper=The Sacramento Bee|url=https://www.sacbee.com/food-drink/article192683464.html|first=Mike|last=Dunne|date=2 January 2018|title=Golden Anniversaries in 2018 Include Jed Steele’s as a California Winemaker}}</ref><ref name="LC Winegrowers">{{cite web|website=Lake County Winegrowers|title=Grower Spotlight: Jed Steele|url=https://www.lakecountywinegrape.org/growers/spotlight/grower-spotlight-jed-steele/}}</ref>
While the Chardonnay remained the "bread-and-butter wine" for the winery, its Vintner's Reserve affordably priced in 1986 at {{US$|7|1986}}, Kendall-Jackson also released Sauvignon blanc, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel wines,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1208674022/|title=Steele more than a little bit of fun|newspaper=The Houston Chronicle|date=29 January 1986|page=146|first=Michael|last=Lonsford|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and eventually expanded to Merlot and Muscat canelli as well. During Steele's tenure, Kendall-Jackson's annual case production soared from 35,000 in 1982 to more than 700,000 in 1991.<ref name="NYT 0692">{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Frank J.|last=Prial|title=Wine Talk|date=17 June 1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/17/garden/wine-talk-479592.html|url-access=subscription|page=C10}}</ref>
In August 1990, Steele was promoted to director of winemaking at Kendall-Jackson as Tom Selfridge was hired as a winemaking consultant.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311142180/|newspaper=The Press Democrat|date=27 August 1990|title=Vintage Views|page=30 |url-access=subscription|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Steele nevertheless decided to leave, and in what was described as an amicable split, Jackson agreed on a severance of {{US$|400,000|1990}}, plus $10,000 a month while Steele trained his successor.
In May 1991, Jackson fired Steele, accusing him of stealing "trade secrets". The winemaker sued his former employer for the remnant of his $275,000 severance package, and Jackson countersued.<ref name="NYT 0692">{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Frank J.|last=Prial|title=Wine Talk|date=17 June 1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/17/garden/wine-talk-479592.html|url-access=subscription|page=C10}}</ref> The trial, held in Lake County Superior Court in May 1992, resulted in a partial win for Jackson, as Judge John Golden ruled that a winemaking process or formula do constitute a trade secret. The controversial ruling was largely decried in the wine industry.<ref name="NYT 0792">{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Lawrence M.|last= Fisher|title=The Winery, Not the Winemaker, Owns the Secrets, a Court Rules|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/02/business/the-winery-not-the-winemaker-owns-the-secrets-a-court-rules.html|page=A1|date=2 July 1992 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In June 1993, Steele dropped the appeal he had planned to file.<ref>{{cite news|title=Steele drops KJ appeal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311819048/|newspaper=The Press Democrat|first=Dick|last=Philips|date=18 June 1993|page=39,44|url-access=subscription|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In the 1980s, Kendall-Jackson rejected the California wine industry's trend toward vineyard-specific wine labeling. It ignored the concept of terroir in favor of blending wines from different regions to achieve desired wine characteristics. They reversed that direction in the mid-2000s, along with a push to upgrade their quality.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/wine/article/Mountain-man-A-retired-Jess-Jackson-heads-for-2822205.php|title=Mountain man / A 'retired' Jess Jackson heads for the hills to revamp Kendall-Jackson|last=Murphy|first=Linda|date=19 February 2004|work=San Francisco Chronicle|page=D1|access-date=5 June 2009}}</ref>
That label now continues under the umbrella company, Jackson Family Wines, that Jackson later created.<ref name = nytimes>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/business/22jackson.html | work = New York Times | title = Jess Jackson Dies at 81, a Wine Grower With a Taste for Thoroughbred Racing | date = 22 April 2011 | accessdate = 1 March 2021| last1 = Grimes | first1 = William }}</ref>
After retiring from Hewlett-Packard, Lew Platt was the company's CEO from 2000 to mid-2001.<ref>{{cite web |work=EE Times |title=Lew Platt, former HP CEO, dies at 64 |first=Mark |last=LaPedus |publisher=UBM Tech |date=September 9, 2005 |accessdate=2014-07-06 |url=http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1156264}}</ref>
In late 2006, the Jackson family launched White Rocket Wine Co. in Napa Valley to target the millennial generation of wine drinkers.<ref>{{cite news|first=H. Morgan|last=Scott|title=Kendall-Jackson Founder Targets Younger Wine Drinker|work=Wine Spectator|date=31 December 2006|page=15}}</ref>
In April 2011 Jess Jackson died from cancer at the age of 81.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Horse owner Jess Jackson dies at age 81|url=https://www.foxsports.com/stories/other/horse-owner-jess-jackson-dies-at-age-81|access-date=2020-08-17|website=FOX Sports|language=en-US}}</ref> His son-in-law, Don Hartford, had been serving as CEO of the company. The company disclosed a succession plan in March 2011, announcing that president Rick Tigner would be transitioning into the position of CEO. Tigner was featured on the third season, second episode of Undercover Boss. Don Hartford and Barbara Banke oversee the family's interests on the board of directors.
In April 2024, together with La Crema, Kendall-Jackson was named the Official Wine Sponsor of USA Basketball.<ref>{{Cite web |title=These Are the Official Wines of Team USA Basketball — and They're Perfect for Olympic Viewing Parties |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/usa-basketball-kendall-jackson-wine-partnership-8677337 |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{commons category|Kendall-Jackson}} {{reflist|2}}
Category:Wineries in Sonoma County, California Category:Companies based in Santa Rosa, California Category:American companies established in 1974 Category:Food and drink companies established in 1974 Category:1974 establishments in California