When Judy Jordan founded J Vineyards & Winery in California’s Russian River Valley in 1986, she had a very clear goal to produce sparkling wines that would rival Champagne, the gold standard for the genre.
By that measure, she and J have achieved a level of success many thought not possible. The sparkling wines of J are elegant and stylish. They are among the finest made in the New World and certainly on a par with many outstanding Champagnes. Yet nearly 30 years into the ambitious project, Jordan and J are flirting with a new direction.
There is the rapid expansion of its successful Pinot Gris program on the horizon, and a nifty array of offerings such as Vin Gris made from Pinot Noir, a delicious Pinot Meunier, and a growing selection of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. There’s even an unusual blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Pinotage.
The goal is to ramp up the Pinot Gris to as much as 100,000 cases annually within a few years, and emphasize the table wines, primarily Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, that can be made from grapes grown on J’s nearly 300 acres of vineyards in the Russian River Valley.
It was no accident that J went out and hired winemaker Melissa Stackhouse away from Jackson Family Wines a little more than two years ago. Stackhouse was a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay specialist at Jackson Family’s La Crema winery through 2010, when she was appointed winemaster to oversee Pinot Noir production for all Jackson Family brands before accepting the position at J.
That decision marked a turning point for J. It was a signal that Jordan was conceding the obvious, acknowledging that domestic sparkling wine, no matter how good, remains a tough sell when competing with Champagne. Table wines made from the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes that would have gone into sparkling wine production can fetch the same price or more, and gets to market sooner and is less costly to produce than high quality sparkling wine.
“When the recession hit, our wine club kept us afloat,” said George Rose, spokesperson for J. “The American consumer typically buys sparkling wine once a year, and that’s around the holidays.”
The changes underway at J don’t mean the winery will get out of the sparkling wine business, but it is a clear signal that diversity is the new mantra. What separates J from neighbors Gloria Ferrer and Domaine Carneros, both in the nearby Carneros region, is that those two companies are backed by two titans of the industry. Gloria Ferrer is owned by the Spanish wine company Freixenet, the largest sparkling-wine producer in the world, and the French Champagne house Taittinger owns Domaine Carneros.
The bet here is that J will continue to make dazzling sparkling wines. But the day will likely come, and sooner rather than later, that it is best-known for estate grown Russian River Valley Pinot and Chardonnay.
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