Jackson Family Wines

Jackson Family Wines began on a Lake County orchard, and the family were farmers from the beginning: Jess Stonestreet Jackson Jr. and his family bought an aging orchard there and planted chardonnay grapes in 1974. In 1982, Kendall-Jackson debuted with the release of the 1982 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, and Jackson and his two daughters, Jenny and Laura, began hand-selling the wine across the country. Inspired by French winemaking traditions, Jackson established a 'Flavor Domaine' philosophy, planting individual grape varieties suited to their terroir. By 1992, Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve had become the top-selling Chardonnay in America, a title the company says it has held for 25 years and counting. The wine is 95 percent barrel fermented, and each barrel is sur lees aged and hand stirred monthly.

• Jess Jackson and his family bought an aging Lake County orchard and planted chardonnay grapes there in 1974
• Kendall-Jackson debuted with the 1982 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay; Jackson and daughters Jenny and Laura hand-sold the wine across the country
• A 'Flavor Domaine' philosophy, inspired by French winemaking traditions, guided the planting of individual grape varieties suited to their terroir
• By 1992, Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay was America's top-selling Chardonnay, and it has held the title for 25 years and counting

In 1986, the family purchased part of the historic Tepusquet Vineyard on the Santa Maria Bench and established Cambria Estate Winery, named in homage to Barbara Banke's Welsh heritage. Stonestreet Winery followed in Sonoma County's Alexander Valley in 1989. The family began making wine in Chile in 1993 and in Italy in 1994, the same year Jenny Jackson Hartford and her husband, Don Hartford, established Hartford Family Winery in the Russian River Valley. The family's commitment to mountain fruit deepened with the purchase of the Stonestreet Mountain Estate (formerly the Gauer Estate) in Alexander Valley in 1995 and the W.S. Keyes vineyard on Napa's Howell Mountain in 1996, followed by Monterey County vineyard plantings in 1997. Winemaking began in McLaren Vale, South Australia in 2000 and in Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux, France in 2003, home to Château Lassègue; the company's own Yangarra Estate Vineyard page gives a 2001 founding date for that winery, a year later than the history page's 2000. Jess Jackson purchased La Jota Vineyard Co. on Howell Mountain in 2005. Its historic stone winery, built in 1898, had been bought by Markham Vineyards in 2001, and Markham sold the 42-acre property to Jackson's Artisans and Estates line. The Jackson family purchased Freemark Abbey, a Napa Valley winery dating to 1886, in 2006, bringing the winery back under single-family ownership. The family made its first acquisitions in Oregon's Willamette Valley in 2013 and entered South Africa in 2014.

• Cambria (1986, Santa Maria Bench, named for Barbara Banke's Welsh heritage) and Stonestreet (1989, Alexander Valley) were established in California
• International expansion: winemaking in Chile (1993) and Italy (1994); McLaren Vale, South Australia (2000); Saint-Emilion, France (2003)
• La Jota Vineyard Co. on Howell Mountain was purchased in 2005; Freemark Abbey was purchased in 2006
• First Oregon acquisitions in the Willamette Valley (2013) and entry into South Africa (2014)

Jackson Family Wines operates a portfolio of 40 wineries. Kendall-Jackson, founded in 1982 in Sonoma County, with winemaker Kris Kato, debuted with the 1982 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay; its brand page says many consider Kendall-Jackson to be 'America's Favorite', and its Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay has been the top-selling Chardonnay in the country since 1992. La Crema, founded in 1979 as La Crema Viñera in Sonoma County and based in the Russian River Valley, specializes in cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir under winemaker Craig McAllister. In Napa Valley, Cardinale, founded in 1982 in Napa Valley under winemaker Christopher Carpenter, produces a Cabernet Sauvignon sourced primarily from Napa's mountain vineyards, while Lokoya, founded in 1995 and also under Carpenter, bottles four single-appellation, 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, and Diamond Mountain, fermented with native yeast and bottled unfined and unfiltered. At Vérité, founded in Sonoma County in 1998, vigneron Pierre Seillan crafts three wines, La Muse, La Joie, and Le Désir, from more than 50 micro-crus. Vérité's 2001 La Muse earned the winery's first 100-point score from Robert Parker, Jr., and the entire 2007 vintage received 100-point scores. Counts of Vérité's perfect Parker scores differ by date: The Buyer put the total at seven in January 2016, the Robb Report at 13 in August 2017, and the company's undated history page at 15 'to date'. An April 2021 Vinography retrospective, without giving a count, described Vérité as having been 'racking up impressive 100-point scores from critics for two decades.'

• Kendall-Jackson (founded 1982): its Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay has been America's top-selling Chardonnay since 1992
• La Crema (founded 1979 as La Crema Viñera) is the portfolio's Russian River Valley cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir specialist
• Cardinale (1982) and Lokoya (1995), both under winemaker Christopher Carpenter, make Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon primarily from mountain vineyards; Lokoya bottles four single-appellation wines
• Vérité (founded 1998, Sonoma County): three wines (La Muse, La Joie, Le Désir) by vigneron Pierre Seillan; perfect 100-point Parker scores counted at seven by The Buyer (Jan. 2016), 13 by the Robb Report (Aug. 2017), and 15 'to date' on the company's undated history page

All estate vineyards earned certification under the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW) program by 2010. The company installed its first solar panels in 2012 and has since built what it calls the U.S. wine industry's largest solar array, more than 23,000 panels powering 30 percent of its winemaking operations, with a goal of using on-site renewable energy for more than 50 percent of winery electricity by 2025. The company collaborated on a pilot project with Tesla Energy in 2015, was named The Drinks Business's Green Company of the Year in 2013, and won EPA Green Power Leadership Awards in 2013, 2016, and 2018. In August 2021, the company unveiled Rooted for Good: Roadmap to 2030, a 10-year sustainability and climate action plan committing to cut its carbon emissions in half by 2030 and become carbon positive by 2050 without relying on carbon offsets. Since 2015, the company has reduced its total greenhouse gas emissions by 17.5 percent. On February 28, 2019, in Barcelona, Spain, Katie Jackson and Miguel Torres of Spain's Familia Torres signed the founding commitment of International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA), and through IWCA the company joined the United Nations' Race to Zero campaign. More than 60 percent of the land under the company's care has been kept in its natural state, and the company aims to convert 100 percent of its estate vineyards to regenerative farming by 2030. Ninety-eight percent of its waste, including 1,353 tons of recyclables and 13,328 tons of organics, is diverted from landfills.

• All estate vineyards CCSW-certified by 2010; first solar panels installed 2012; Tesla Energy pilot project in 2015
• A solar array of more than 23,000 panels, which the company calls the U.S. wine industry's largest, powers 30 percent of winemaking operations; the goal is more than 50 percent from on-site renewables by 2025
• Co-founded IWCA with Familia Torres; Katie Jackson and Miguel Torres signed the founding commitment in Barcelona on February 28, 2019
• Rooted for Good: Roadmap to 2030 (unveiled August 2021): cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, carbon positive by 2050 without offsets; total greenhouse gas emissions down 17.5 percent since 2015

Jackson Family Wines has been family-owned and family-run since 1974. Jess Stonestreet Jackson Jr. (1930-2011) founded the company. In 2011, Barbara Banke, his partner in life and in business, was named Chairman, and Don Hartford was named Vice Chairman. Banke is a former land-use and constitutional-law attorney with degrees from UCLA and Hastings Law School who spent more than a decade arguing cases before the United States Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal. She and Jackson shaped nearly two dozen premium wineries across Sonoma, Napa, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Mendocino counties, in addition to the company's international properties. Banke was the first woman named Wine Enthusiast's Wine Personality of the Year, in 2012, and received Wine Spectator's Distinguished Service Award in 2017. Jess Jackson's daughters Jenny Jackson Hartford, the oldest, and Laura Jackson Giron are listed among the company's family members. The three children he had with Barbara Banke, Katherine 'Katie' Jackson, Julia Jackson, and Christopher Jackson, are each involved in the company. Katie Jackson, the oldest daughter of Barbara Banke and Jess Jackson, made her first harvest in the cellar at Stonestreet Winery and now focuses on sustainability and government relations; Wine Enthusiast named her to its '40 under 40' in 2018. Julia Jackson, a second-generation vintner, founded the summit and foundation Grounded and has built company partnerships with organizations including the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Christopher Jackson focuses on Stonestreet Estate Winery. In 2013, the Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building opened at UC Davis; the family committed $4 million to fund the LEED Platinum-Certified teaching and research facility.

• Jess Stonestreet Jackson Jr. (1930-2011) founded the company; in 2011, Barbara Banke was named Chairman and Don Hartford was named Vice Chairman
• Barbara Banke: former land-use and constitutional-law attorney (UCLA, Hastings Law School); Wine Enthusiast's first female Wine Personality of the Year (2012); Wine Spectator Distinguished Service Award (2017)
• Jess Jackson's daughters Jenny Jackson Hartford (the oldest) and Laura Jackson Giron are listed among the company's family members; his children with Barbara Banke, Katie, Julia, and Christopher Jackson, are each involved in the company
• The family committed $4 million to the Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building, a LEED Platinum-Certified teaching and research facility that opened at UC Davis in 2013

Primary sources (the company's own site, jacksonfamilywines.com): home, history, family, wineries, Barbara Banke's bio, Katie Jackson's bio, Julia Jackson's bio, Christopher Jackson's bio, Rooted for Good overview and roadmap, Our Race to Zero, Land Conservation and Farming, and the individual winery pages for Kendall-Jackson, Vérité, Lokoya, Cardinale, La Crema, Cambria, Stonestreet, Tenuta di Arceno, Château Lassègue, Yangarra Estate Vineyard, La Jota, and Freemark Abbey. A related primary-brand source, freemarkabbey.com's own history page, was also used. Secondary sources: Vinography (April 2021), Robb Report (August 2017), The Buyer (January 2016), all on Vérité's 100-point scores from critic Robert Parker; and the Press Democrat (November 3, 2005) on the La Jota Vineyard Co. purchase. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the company's own site and a secondary source disagree, or where the site's own pages disagree with each other, both accounts are stated with their sources named.