My guest this week is Ken Abolins, Region manager for Jackson Family Fine Wines.
Every wine enthusiast knows about Kendall-Jackson wines. The Vintners Reserve line is the most popular series of wines with the widest distribution and restaurant wine list presents, especially the Chardonnay. But you may not know “The Rest of The Story!” My first visit to the original Lake County Kendall-Jackson winery was in 1989, Jed Steele was the winemaker and my brother and I had a fine wine country luncheon with Jess Jackson’s daughter Janet. We tasted everything produced at that time, recorded a radio show, and it was memorable.
I also had the opportunity to meet and chat with Jess Jackson and Randy Ollum (winemaker at the time and now he oversees the entire KJ portfolio) at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic many years ago. Jess Stonestreet Jackson was a force of great magnitude in many aspects of California winemaking prior to his untimely passing. After several years of treatment for melanoma, Jackson died on 21 April 2011.
Kendall-Jackson may be most often associated with the winery’s flagship Vintner’s Reserve line, starring its best-selling Chardonnay, but there is much more to this Sonoma County wine producer. The brand was founded in 1982 by Jess Jackson, who replaced pear and walnut trees with Chardonnay grapevines on an 80-acre orchard he purchased north of Napa Valley.
From there, Kendall-Jackson would go on to launch multiple collections, become a leader in sustainability and conservation, and take home many prestigious honors, including the American Wine Competition’s first-ever Platinum Award for an American Chardonnay.
Jackson Family Wines has been family-owned and run since the planting of the first vines in 1974. Each of the 40+ wineries in the portfolio has its own distinct fingerprint and style driven by the terroir of the vineyards located across the top wine-growing regions of the world.
Ken and I will be sharing the story of the growth of the portfolio, the many vineyard and label acquisitions and talk about many of the premium labels produced today. The wine of the week is just one of the premium wines produced!
Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2020 Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Chardonnay
This 2020 Napa Valley Chardonnay is a rich, nuanced and complex wine. The nose opens with aromas of apple cobbler, creme brulee, ripe pineapple, orange marmalade, and fresh peach. The palate is supple, balanced and integrated and exhibits flavors of stone fruit, candied lemon zest, baking spices, ambrosia and vanilla. It is at once vibrant and balanced while being creamy with a long, lingering finish.. ABV14.2% JS94, WA92, JD92