Re-Evaluating Kendall-Jackson
Courtesy of
30 Second Wine Advisor
By Robin Garr
When you see Kendall-Jackson's familiar grape leaf logo on a wine
label, what do you think?
Let's be blunt: Call it wine-snobbery if you must, but for many
"serious" wine enthusiasts, this giant Sonoma County producer -
particularly its ubiquitous "Vintner's Reserve" line - has gained a
reputation for bland, sweet and one-dimensional mass-market wine.
Consider Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay in
particular: Undeniably popular, it sells more than 2 million cases
of wine - 24 million bottles every year! But few of those bottles
end up in the hands of "wine geeks," who decry the very formula that
made it popular, a recipe that began literally by accident in the
1982 vintage, in which fermentation is stopped short of the finish
to reserve a distinct note of sweetness in the wine.
It sold famously, and won major awards; but critics likened this
method to McDonald's purported practice of adding a taste of sugar
to its french fries in a similar bid to heighten the product's
appeal to mass-market tastes.
So when Kendall-Jackson's PR chief George Rose invited me to
lunch with the company's wine maker Randy Ullom during their quick
visit to town this week, I prepared to smile politely and say
noncommittal things.
Ullom, an affable, rather quiet chap with a ready smile and a
whisk-broom mustache, smiled as he poured out samples of the just
released 2002 Chardonnay and 2001 Merlot.
Hey!
These wines did not taste like the Vintner's Reserve I
remembered. Ullom's grin broadened as I sniffed, swirled, looked
confused, swirled and tasted again.
I was pretty blunt about it: "There's tannin in this Merlot," I
said, perhaps a little accusingly. "And acidity, and ripe black-
cherry fruit. Isn't Merlot in this price range supposed to be soft
and easy stuff?"
"Times are changing," he said. "It's baby steps, but we think the
market is changing, and our wines are, too."
The Chardonnay, too, jostled me off my expectations. Not just
malolactic butter on the nose, it showed a frankly interesting blend
of smoke, buttered toast and ripe pineapple fruit. On the palate,
remarkably, it carried the pineapple flavors on a bone-dry
structure, with no trace of the familiar Vintner's Reserve
sweetness.
In fact, Ullom said, the Chardonnay is down to 0.5 percent
residual sugar in the 2002 vintage, below the so-called "threshold
of perception" of sweetness for the average taster. He said it has
come down gradually, a little more each year, from a distinctly
detectable 0.8 percent when he took over as the company's "winemaster"
in 1997.
Despite the size of production, Ullom said, he takes care to
vinify all the Chardonnay destined for Vintner's reserve in separate
lots identified by source - more than 1,000 lots, 100 percent
Chardonnay from sources in Monterey, Santa Barbara and the North
Coast counties of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino for the 2002 vintage -
in the interest of maximizing flavor and fruit intensity. All but a
tiny fraction of the wine is barrel-fermented and all of it is put
through malolactic fermentation, procedures that Ullom says bring
body and balance to the fruit from cool "coastal" regions.
(Kendall-Jackson was one of the prime movers behind a controversial,
and ultimately unsuccessful, recent proposal to create a new
"California Coastal" designation that could be applied to wines made
from grapes grown throughout a broad swath of coastal
regions.)
Enough technical talk: The proof is in the tasting, and this is a
new breed of Vintner's Select. I'll be tasting it again,
analytically and "blind," when it reaches our market in coming
months, but based on this first tasting with the wine maker, I'm
provisionally dropping my knee-jerk negative reaction to Vintner's
Reserve.
Ullom brings an unusual background to his post. In contrast with
many of his peers with degrees from the University of California and
all their experience in the Golden State, Ullom, a Michigan native,
earned his viticulture and enology degree on the distinctly
Midwestern campus of Ohio State University in 1975. He spent three
years touring Chile's wine regions (and has hair-raising stories to
tell about being in Santiago during the coup that overthrew Salvador
Allende in 1970). He worked at Eastern U.S. wineries in Ohio and New
York before moving to California, where he made wine at De Loach
before moving to Kendall-Jackson in 1993, where he worked on the
company's Camelot brand and its Chilean and Argentine properties,
Vina Calina and Tapiz, before taking over as Kendall- Jackson wine
maker in 1997.
In addition to the new Vintner's Reserve releases, Ullom and Rose
brought along barrel, tank and pre-release bottle samples of a
variety of Kendall-Jackson wines, which rise from the mass-market
level to the tiny-production, dramatically priced "Stature" Bordeaux
blends, "Meritage" wines that stake Kendall-Jackson's claim on the
high end of the wine market at a cool $120 per bottle with fewer
than 1,000 cases made.
The company will hold that price line despite the widely
publicized California wine "glut" and downward pressure on prices,
Ullom said, adding that they consider the "Stature" competitive with
sought- after labels, and invite "blind" comparison. He also said
there'll be no "Two Buck Chuck" equivalent
coming from Kendall-Jackson, as they intend to hold the price - and
quality - line on Vintner's Reserve no matter what the competition
does.
Here are my brief notes on the wines presented, noting that this
was a non-"blind" tasting in the company of the wine maker, from
small glasses in a lunch setting in a private, catered hotel meeting
room. Please note also that many of these wines were sample bottles
drawn from barrel or tank and still have a long way to go before
release; in the natural order of wine making, they may show quite
differently when they eventually reach the retail market. Prices
shown are the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
Kendall-Jackson 2002 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay ($12)
Clear straw-gold. Attractive smoky, buttered-toast and pineapple
aromas. Flavors consistent, rich and appealing, structured and, to
my surprise, fully dry. (Released November 2003, about 2 million
cases made)
Kendall-Jackson 2001 Vintner's Reserve Merlot ($12)
Another stereotype-breaking surprise, this dark-garnet wine offers a
deep wild-cherry scent with hints of spice and brown sugar. Cherry
and chocolate flavors, warm and mouth-filling, are structured with
good acidity and smooth but perceptible tannins. (Released October
2003, 338,452 cases made)
Kendall-Jackson 2002 Grand Reserve Chardonnay ($20)
Pale gold, rather hazy in this unfiltered and unfined tank sample.
Smoky, consistent in style with the Vintner's Reserve but showing
more forward pineapple fruit and a bit more warmth, apparently due
to a higher (14%) level of alcohol. (Tank sample, ready to bottle.
Scheduled for release February 2004, 72,245 cases made)
Kendall-Jackson 2002 Taylor Peak Estate Merlot ($35)
First of three small-production Merlots from single hillside and
mountain vineyards, this one from fruit grown at 800 to 1,200 feet
above sea level in Sonoma's Bennett Valley near Santa Rosa. Very
dark reddish purple. Plummy and a bit vegetal, with a high-toned
volatile note that blows off to reveal ripe cherry fruit and rather
green tannins. (Barrel sample. Scheduled for release December 2004,
856 cases made)
Kendall-Jackson 2002 Piner Hills Estate Merlot ($35)
From a Russian River Valley hillside vineyard at 200 to 300 feet.
Very dark reddish-purple. Deep, rather closed plummy fruit with a
pleaant mineral quality on the nose and palate. Juicy fruit, more
forward in flavor than the nose, well balanced by sharp acidity.
(Barrel sample. Scheduled for release December, 2004, 276 cases
made)
Kendall-Jackson 2002 Sable Mountain Estate Merlot ($35)
From an 1,800-foot mountain vineyard near Boontville in Mendocino.
Inky reddish-purple with a day-glo edge. Refined Merlot fruit, tight
and tannic at this point in its evolution. (Barrel sample. Scheduled
for release December 2004, 798 cases made)
Kendall-Jackson 2001 "Stature" Napa Meritage
On the shy and tight side, just a hint of black fruit and spice in
the aroma. Mouth-filling, textured and balanced flavors, black
fruit, pepper and spice, acidic and tannic. Very immature, and
that's why it will rest at the winery for another year or more
before it's shipped. (Bottled. Scheduled for release March 2005, 613
cases made)
Kendall-Jackson 2002 "Stature" Napa Meritage
Very closed and tight. Perfumed, a hint of anise. Showing more on
the palate, coffee and tobacco leaf and rich black fruit, pronounced
but smooth tannins. Ullom notes that it's a blend of Howell Mountain
and Mount Veeder fruit for ageworthiness, plus To Kalon and
Rutherford Bench grapes for up-front fruitiness in its youth.
(Barrel sample. Scheduled for release March 2006, 945 cases made)
It was a pleasure to meet Randy and George and the local and
regional wine folks who came with them; and it was a useful reminder
to me - and I hope to you - that it's always a good idea
periodically to confront and skeptically re-examine our stereotypes,
about wine and, for that matter, just about everything else.
For a virtual visit to Kendall-Jackson, click to the winery
Website, http://www.kj.com/. |
