Category: Sonoma County Wineries

Posted on

Jess Jackson Dead at 81

Photo courtesy Kendall-Jackson

Jess Jackson, the man who turned America on to chardonnay and went on to build a wine empire, has died at age 81.

Jackson, who had cancer, died Thursday at his home in Geyserville, winery officials said.

The leader of the hugely successful Kendall-Jackson winery in Sonoma County, Jackson packed several lifetimes worth of careers into his eight decades. He was a longshoreman, a noted attorney, a vintner and, late in life, found success as a racehorse owner.

Tall and with a sweep of white hair, Jackson was a familiar figure in the wine world, where he was known as the “mountain man” because of his passion for vineyards that cling to rocky slopes. Mountain soil is poor and stony and the vines have to work harder to survive, producing fruit with a more intense flavor than grapes that have an easier go of it.

“Everything’s desperate up here. The vine’s desperate, the farmer’s desperate,” Jackson told me in an interview several years ago. “But when you get it, it’s world-class.”

He was born in Los Angeles but raised in San Francisco and spent summers in wine country as a teenager. He worked his way through Berkeley’s Boalt Hall law school and became a San Francisco attorney specializing in land-use and property rights.

In 1974 he bought a ranch in Northern California, looking for a place to relax.

But relaxing was probably the one thing Jackson wasn’t good at and by 1982 he had founded a winery.

The Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve chardonnay which has graced countless dinner tables _ and was once spotted on the counter of the Obamas’ Chicago home _ started out as an accident. Fermentation “stuck,” meaning less of the grape sugar turned into alcohol, which made the wine a little bit sweeter.

People went wild for it and it has remained a consistent consumer favorite.

In addition to Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, other wines in the Jackson Family collection are Cambria, Stonestreet, Edmeades, La Crema, Cardinale, Lokoya, Hartford Family Winery, Verite, Atalon, Carmel Road, Murphy Goode, La Jota, Freemark Abbey, Bryon Estates, Arrowood, in the United States; Chateau Lassegue in France; Tenuta di Arceno in Italy; Yangarra in Australia; and Calina in Chile.

Jackson Family Wines is one of California’s few remaining family-owned winery groups.

In 2007, Jackson embarked on a new career, becoming majority stakeholder in the racehorse Curlin, which was Horse of the Year for 2007 and 2008. After that, his filly, Rachel Alexandra, became the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in 85 years. She was 2009 Horse of the Year. And Jackson won Sportsman of the Year 2008 Insider Award.

Survivors include his wife, Barbara Banke, five children,  Jennifer Hartford, Laura Giron, Katie Jackson, Julia Jackson and Christopher Jackson and two grandchildren, Hailey Hartford and MacLean Hartford.

 

Posted on

Mauritson Winery

 

How can you tell if you’re at a Sonoma or Napa wine event? Check the ratio of Porches to pickups in the parking lot. OK, plenty of people in Sonoma County drive luxury automobiles _ and I have seen a few beaters parked at Napa wineries _ but in broad-brush terms, it’s true. Sonoma is to Napa like a chunky amber topaz necklace to a sparkly diamond pendant. Both gems, just one’s a little wilder, a little more unexpected. I was reminded of how much fun it is to explore Sonoma County when I spent a recent afternoon there doing interviews for some upcoming stories.

It was a beautiful day _ warm, sunny, and plenty of time to enjoy the scenery of green vineyards unrolling under a cerulean sky. Lots of vineyards. The county has nearly 63,000 acres planted to grapes _ chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon are the Big 3 _ and there are 260 wineries open to the public.

One of my stops was at the Mauritson Winery in the Dry Creek Valley. This winery has an interesting history that goes back to the 19th century. Great-great-great-grandfather S.P. Hallengren was a pioneer in Sonoma County’s Rockpile region and the family homestead and ranch grew to 4,000 acres. But in the early 1960s almost all of it was acquired by the government to create Lake Sonoma.

With most of their land under water, the family moved farming operations elsewhere, continuing their business of growing grapes for other wineries, something they still do. But in the mid-1990s, winemaker Clay Mauritson, then just out of college, suggested that the family go into the winemaking business as well. The inaugural release of Mauritson Dry Creek Valley zinfandel came in 1998. Meanwhile, attention turned to the family’s remaining property in Rockpile _ craggy, ridge line property once deemed good only for sheep-grazing. These days that kind of environment, sparse soils, steep slopes, sun and wind exposure, is considered a prime place for producing premium wine.  Grapes that struggle to survive turn out more flavorful than those that live a plush life. (Query: Is this true for people, too? I’d like to think so, especially on Monday mornings.) Today, Mauritson makes several Rockpile wines, including zesty zins.

In 2004, the winemaking facility and tasting room opened.  Nothing fancy here, just a comfortable  tasting bar with good, reasonably priced wines. With the temps being on the toasty side, I tried the sauvignon blanc, which was fresh with bright acidity and an aromatic nose. (Wel,l since this is down-to-earth Sonoma County, let me rephrase that last part. It smelled good.)

Cheers.