Kendall-Jackson 'Jackson Estate' Camelot Highlands Chardonnay 2022

Region and Vineyards

The Camelot Highlands vineyard lies on the elevated slopes above the Santa Maria Bench in Santa Barbara County, a renowned subregion of the Santa Maria Valley AVA. Sitting at 350 to 450 feet above sea level, the vineyard benefits from sedimentary soils with fragments of calcium carbonate and limestone. These soils, rich in marine deposits, lend a marked minerality and salinity to the finished wine.

The valley's maritime climate is shaped by a direct west-to-east funnel of ocean breezes and fog. This creates one of California's longest growing seasons, allowing grapes to ripen slowly while preserving natural acidity. The Camelot Highlands blocks, planted more than forty years ago on their own roots, produce low-yielding fruit of exceptional concentration. The combination of ancient vines and fog-drenched mornings imparts both richness and precision, setting this Chardonnay apart in style and depth.

Winemaking

This Chardonnay is 100% estate-grown fruit from the Camelot Highlands vineyard. The grapes are hand-harvested and undergo barrel fermentation, a technique that enhances texture and aromatic complexity. The wine was aged sur lie for a minimum of seven months, with periodic stirring of the lees to build creaminess and depth.

A judicious oak regime shapes the style: 99% French oak barrels, with 45% new oak, impart notes of vanilla bean, cinnamon, and subtle toast. Medium-plus toasting of the barrels ensures spice integration without overpowering the fruit. The result is a layered wine that balances lush tropical fruit with saline minerality, elevated by precise acidity and a long, resonant finish.

Tasting Notes

• Color: Brilliant golden straw with green-tinged highlights.
• Aroma: Ripe pineapple, guava, and tangerine mingle with vanilla bean, candied lime, and cinnamon, underpinned by hints of wet stone and coastal salinity.
• Palate: Rich and textured, yet balanced by a vibrant freshness. Lush tropical fruit flavors flow into creamy oak spice, finishing with minerality and a lingering citrus zest.

Did you know?

The Camelot Highlands vineyard has vines over forty years old, still thriving on their original rootstocks. Few Californian vineyards of this age remain ungrafted, making this Chardonnay a rare reflection of pre-phylloxera lineage and a direct connection to the historic soils of the Santa Maria Valley.

Wine Pairing Ideas

• Lobster with drawn butter: The wine's richness and oak-driven creaminess harmonize beautifully with lobster's sweetness.
• Roast chicken with herbs: The balance of fruit, spice, and minerality complements savory poultry dishes.
• Seared scallops with citrus beurre blanc: The salinity and tropical fruit notes mirror the scallops' delicacy and enhance citrus sauces.
• Mushroom risotto: The creamy palate and subtle oak spice elevate earthy umami flavors.

History of Kendall-Jackson

The estate was founded by Jess Jackson, a visionary who believed that great wines should be both accessible and expressive of place. His first vintage—1982 Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay—was fermented off-dry due to an unintended halt in fermentation, but the result delighted consumers and critics alike. It quickly rose to prominence and set the standard for creamy, oak-influenced California Chardonnay.

Over the decades, Jackson transformed his company into a vertically integrated enterprise. Rather than relying on contracted fruit, he began acquiring vineyards in cool-climate, coastal appellations, giving the winemaking team full control over the grape-growing process. After his passing, his wife Barbara Banke, an accomplished attorney and businesswoman, assumed leadership and expanded Kendall-Jackson’s global reputation. Today, it is the cornerstone of the Jackson Family Wines portfolio, which includes dozens of estates across California and the world.

The winemaking is overseen by Randy Ullom, who has served as Winemaster since 1993, alongside a respected team including Susan Lueker, Mark Theis, and Fritz Meier. Their philosophy blends traditional artisan techniques with scientific precision, ensuring both consistency and vintage expression.

Region and Vineyards

Kendall-Jackson owns and farms over 5,000 hectares of estate vineyards, all of which are certified sustainable under both the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW) and Sustainability in Practice (SIP) programs. These vineyards are located in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Monterey, and Santa Barbara Counties—some of the most climatically diverse and viticulturally prized regions in California.

The vineyards range from coastal benches and foggy valleys to high-elevation ridges and volcanic hillsides, enabling a nuanced expression of each varietal. In Santa Maria Valley, the Camelot Highlands site produces richly textured Chardonnay from 40-year-old own-rooted vines grown in marine sedimentary soils. In Alexander Valley, Hawkeye Mountain sits between 900 and 2,400 feet in elevation, producing a muscular yet elegant Cabernet Sauvignon from shallow, iron-rich volcanic soils. Anderson Valley provides Pinot Noir with crystalline acidity and minerality, particularly from ridgeline vineyards like Outland Ridge.

The diversity of these sites allows Kendall-Jackson to tailor specific grape varieties to optimal terroirs, and to blend across vineyard blocks to achieve stylistic balance in their core ranges while highlighting single-site purity in their premium bottlings.

Wine Range of Kendall-Jackson

The Kendall-Jackson portfolio is structured in clearly defined tiers:

• Vintner’s Reserve: The flagship range and cornerstone of the brand. These wines - including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Rosé, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel - are blended from multiple coastal vineyards to showcase varietal character, freshness, and balance. The Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay alone has been the top-selling Chardonnay in America for over 25 years.
• Jackson Estate: These wines highlight individual vineyard sites or specific appellations, expressing the nuanced identity of terroir. They include bottlings such as Camelot Highlands Chardonnay, Hawkeye Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, and Outland Ridge Pinot Noir.
• Grand Reserve: These wines blend estate fruit from selected sites with greater oak integration and structural depth, offering more concentration and ageability than the Vintner’s Reserve series: Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Grand Reserve Chardonnay.
• Stature: The pinnacle of Kendall-Jackson’s portfolio, crafted from the estate’s best parcels with meticulous attention to detail. Wines like Stature Red Blend and Stature Chardonnay are aged in 50% new French oak, built for cellaring and prestige.

All Kendall-Jackson wines are made with small-lot vinification practices, including cold-soaking for reds, sur lie aging with bâtonnage for whites, and individual lot barrel fermentation. The estate conducts the world’s largest barrel fermentation program for Chardonnay, using French oak from its own stave mill in France and custom-coopered barrels in the U.S.

Did you know?

Kendall-Jackson was a pioneer in sustainable viticulture long before it became mainstream. The family’s commitment extends to bee habitats, water conservation, solar power, and biodiversity corridors across their estates. Their focus on soil health and regenerative farming is now influencing sustainability programs throughout California wine country.