Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A real breakthrough is the 2008 Vintner’s Reserve Pinot Noir. Entirely from Jackson Estate vineyards, this wine is loaded with rhubarb, wild strawberry, cherry, and berry fruit in a medium-bodied, very Pinot Noir-tasting style. Dark ruby-colored with good freshness and liveliness, there are just under 100,000 cases of this Pinot Noir, meant to be drunk in its first 2-3 years of life.
The lowest level of the Kendall-Jackson empire, the Vintner’s Reserve series, goes from strength to strength. For consumers hoping to maximize their dollar value, these serious wines are consistent choices. Their Chardonnay has always been good, but dramatic increases in quality have taken place in the Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon programs.
Internationally recognized for gorgeous, pure fruit combined with great elegance, California Pinot noir thrives among the state’s cooler, coastal zones. Characterized by eclectic flavors and aromas of strawberry, black cherry, plum and potpourri with notes of forest floor, mushroom or black tea, the best California Pinot noir boast a supple texture and good acidity, giving them the ability to improve with age.
Credited with the beginning of Pinot noir’s glory in California, two growers, Joe Rochioli and Joseph Swan in the late 1960s independently planted Pinot noir vineyards in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. Today Sonoma County remains the leading producer of Pinot noir in the state, and Pinot noir is the leading red grape in the county, achieving its highest potential, in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast.
Other coastal appellations where Pinot noir flourishes include Carneros, Anderson Valley and most of the Central Coast.