Not Too Proud To Say OK to KJ

I’m on the payroll at Kendall-Jackson Vineyards and Winery.

How’s that for a sensational (albeit fake) public confession designed only to grab your attention? I cannot, do not and will not accept this-for-that compensation from wineries (or their representatives) for free publicity. But when I mention the likes of KJ, Gallo or other winemaking heavyweights in this column, you’d think I did, judging by the mail I get from colleagues and other folk in the winemaking industry.

Invariably, the screed goes something like this: “How can you recommend someone who makes 50 billion cases of wine every year?” Or: “You really should try this (fill in the blank) wine made by this 90-year-old winemaker and his one-legged mule. He makes a single barrel every year and it blows away that mass-market junk you always write about.”

I’m not sure why this is, but I’ll fashion a guess. When you regularly play with wine as a hobbyist or as a professional, it’s fun to recommend delicious wines that nobody’s ever heard of. Even better, it does an ego good to flesh out those recommendations with facts about the winemaker, the vineyard or how the wine was made. You can’t do that with Kendall-Jackson, one the most well-known wineries in the universe.

Why do I bring this up now? Well, the other night I was commenting to my very grounded wife, Eleanore, about what a good job Kendall-Jackson was doing with its Grand Reserve Chardonnay. “Why don’t you write about it?” she asked.

“Ahh. I can’t do that.”

She didn’t exactly ask “Why?” but gave me one of those head-tilted-to-the-side “looks.”

“It’s complicated,” I replied.

Jess Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke, proprietors of Kendall-Jackson, do not need me to promote their wines any more than Michael Phelps needs my advice on how to flutter kick. But whether you’re a writer, a wine snob or a hurried parent rushing down the wine aisle, one should always be honest with oneself. If you like a wine, regardless of what is on the label, don’t be afraid to admit it.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I do receive wine samples—some I request and many that come unsolicited. Today’s wine pick came to me by a request I made to 340 wineries or their representatives for Monterey chardonnays. I wish I could buy all my wines for this column, but I’m afraid that is impossible at this time.

2006 Kendall-Jackson Vineyards and Winery,
Grand Reserve, Chardonnay,
Monterey/Santa Barbara, Calif.

• $21

• Two Thumbs Way Up

• Rich—but not over the top—aromas of banana, pineapple and cream soda with sophisticated spice notes. A big wine with significant flavors of oak and vanilla that are balanced by a cavalcade of tropical fruit.