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Date Printed: 5/23/2013
Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay 2003
Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay 2003
 (search item no. 80062)
The Wine Advocate rating: 89 points
PRICE ON 5/23/2013: $13.99

ratings pedigree (past vintages):
2010 Wine Spectator rating: 88 points
2010 Wine Enthusiast rating: 88 points
2009 The Wine Advocate rating: 89 points
2008 The Wine Advocate rating: 89 points
2007 The Wine Advocate rating: 90 points
2006 The Wine Advocate rating: 89 points
2004 The Wine Advocate rating: 89 points
1999 The Wine Advocate rating: 87 points

Winemaker's Notes:

 "The Vintner's Reserve series includes the 2003 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, perhaps the finest example of this cuvee yet produced. There are 1.9 million cases, and it is the same wine no matter when it is bottled. Approximately 80% comes from the estate vineyards, and, amazingly, the entire cuvee is aged for 6.9 months in both French and American oak. Lees stirring is done for about one month. Undeniably the best Chardonnay for the price in the marketplace, it offers notes of crushed minerals intermixed with lemon custard, orange skins, and tropical fruits. This crisp, medium-bodied, elegant, dry Chardonnay is an astonishing achievement considering the quantity produced as well as its price."
-Wine Advocate

Generous tropical fruit, apple, citrus and melon aromas and flavors are complemented by buttery, toasty oak complexity. The rich, polished palate leads to a crisp, lingering finish. A delicious aperitif and a fine accompaniment to seafood, chicken and creamy pastas.
My Notes:

Additional wines from Kendall-Jackson:

About Kendall-Jackson:

 Back in 1974, Jess Jackson saw in the fine vineyards of California's cool coastal regions fruit with a variety of outstanding flavors. What if there was a way to produce from this abundance, a single outstanding "cuvée" that offered both quality and value? The result, first released in 1983, was Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, a rich, round and flavorful wine, made with hand-crafted methods. That same year, Grand Reserve was introduced, a line of ultra-premium wines that represented the full potential of California's finest vineyards and winemaking. Today, over 5,000 acres of vineyard in California's coastal regions are farmed by Kendall-Jackson. Four separate wineries house what is possibly the single largest barrel-fermentation project in the world. But perhaps most important, is that Kendall-Jackson remains a family-owned winery.