Why Kendall-Jackson’s California wines are actually really good

If California were its own country, it would be the world’s fifth-largest wine producer, and most experts would agree that the finest wines grown outside of Europe are made there.

When the word “California” appears on a wine label as its legal designation of grape origin, though, it carries considerably less cachet. In this instance, the wine is sourced from all four of the coastal counties that make California’s best pinot noirs: Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and Mendocino. But since those counties lie hundreds of miles apart, the wine can only be sold as a California wine with no superior appellation of origin.

As a general rule, higher wine quality is strongly associated with greater specificity in the region of grape origin. Smaller appellations like Napa Valley, along the Pacific coast, are the most prestigious and command the highest prices, while larger zones, like Sonoma County or the even larger Central Coast, all make more affordable wines.

California’s cheapest wines come from vineyards farther inland, in the vast, baking-hot Central Valley, where table grapes are grown. Since there is no commercial advantage for a winery to claim Central Valley provenance, though, these wines are universally labeled with the generic “California” appellation. As a result, discerning wine shoppers came to assume that seeing only California on the label indicates that a wine is likely made with Central Valley fruit of questionable quality, but that’s not always the case anymore.

Decades ago, Kendall-Jackson pioneered a new approach to winemaking by trucking in fruit from a number of different premium coastal zones to shop for best pricing, blending them together and selling the wine on the strength of the brand’s reputation, not its appellation’s status. The resulting wines may only qualify for a California label designation, but can taste nearly as good as more expensive competitors with fancier pedigrees. (This practice has become commonplace today.)

This particular pinot noir has consistently delivered excellent value for the dollar since its launch decades ago. Stylistically, it is on the riper end of the spectrum, with flavors of strawberry jam and black raspberries smoothed out with patient aging in oak barrels that contribute subtle accents of clove or allspice.

14.5% ABV; California; PLCB Item #6269: On sale for $17.79 through Oct. 5 (regularly $20.79).

Also available at: WineWorks in Marlton: $19.98, wineworksonline.com; Canal’s in Mount Ephraim, $16.99, mycanals.com; Total Wine & More in Wilmington and Claymont, Del., $14.99, totalwine.com