Kendall-Jackson

History

In 1974, San Francisco land-use attorney Jess Jackson and his wife Jane Kendall Wadlow Jackson converted an 80 acre pear and walnut orchard in Lakeport, California to a vineyard and sold wine grapes to local wineries. Jackson even made his own wine under the Chateau du Lac label, largely as a hobby. 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, and the K-J Chardonnay was soon nicknamed "Nancy's wine" by San Francisco Chronicle's columnist Herb Caen.

While the Chardonnay remained the "bread-and-butter wine" for the winery, its Vintner's Reserve affordably priced in 1986 at , Kendall-Jackson also released Sauvignon blanc, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel wines, 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.

In August 1990, Steele was promoted to director of winemaking at Kendall-Jackson as Tom Selfridge was hired as a winemaking consultant. Steele nevertheless decided to leave, and in what was described as an amicable split, Jackson agreed on a severance of , 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. 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. In June 1993, Steele dropped the appeal he had planned to file.

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.

That label now continues under the umbrella company, Jackson Family Wines, that Jackson later created.{{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

After retiring from Hewlett-Packard, Lew Platt was the company's CEO from 2000 to mid-2001.{{cite web

In late 2006, the Jackson family launched White Rocket Wine Co. in Napa Valley to target the millennial generation of wine drinkers.

In April 2011 Jess Jackson died from cancer at the age of 81. 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.

References

References

1. Dan Levy, Bloomberg News. (2010-03-08). "Napa wineries fall under foreclosure crush". Bloomberg.
2. O'Connor, Clare. "Jess Jackson, Billionaire Winemaker, Dies At 81".
3. Prial, Frank J.. (4 January 1997). "Californian Wins Middle Market and Ruffles His Rivals". The New York Times.
4. (21 March 1984). "First lady endorses a different Jackson". USA Today.
5. Dunne, Mike. (2 January 2018). "Golden Anniversaries in 2018 Include Jed Steele’s as a California Winemaker". The Sacramento Bee.
6. "Grower Spotlight: Jed Steele".
7. Lonsford, Michael. (29 January 1986). "Steele more than a little bit of fun". The Houston Chronicle.
8. Prial, Frank J.. (17 June 1992). "Wine Talk". The New York Times.
9. (27 August 1990). "Vintage Views". The Press Democrat.
10. Fisher, Lawrence M.. (2 July 1992). "The Winery, Not the Winemaker, Owns the Secrets, a Court Rules". The New York Times.
11. Philips, Dick. (18 June 1993). "Steele drops KJ appeal". The Press Democrat.
12. Murphy, Linda. (19 February 2004). "Mountain man / A 'retired' Jess Jackson heads for the hills to revamp Kendall-Jackson". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
13. Scott, H. Morgan. (31 December 2006). "Kendall-Jackson Founder Targets Younger Wine Drinker". [[Wine Spectator]].
14. "Horse owner Jess Jackson dies at age 81".
15. "These Are the Official Wines of Team USA Basketball — and They're Perfect for Olympic Viewing Parties".