Winemaster Randy Ullom

Personal Philosophy on Winemaking: Make wine that can be enjoyed by all, enjoyed without a PhD, wines that have a lot of forward fruit, are easy and enjoyable to drink, with long enticing finishes...that linger, beckon and entice for another sip.
Favorite Part of the Process: Walking the vineyards, tasting the grapes, then the excitement, anticipation and chaotic rush of the harvest! I love the family feeling and team effort of our winemaking group. And finally, watching a smile appear on someone's face as they sample and enjoy the wines we have made.
If you were snowed in on a mountain-top villa...what two wines would you want?
I'd have to go with our Highland Estates Camelot Highlands Chardonnay and Stature.
Favorite wine descriptor? "Lush." "Rich" and "Velvet" are close seconds.

Randy's Creative Path: A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Randy became interested in wine during a three-year stay in Chile, while on sabbatical from college in the early 1970s. His stay inspired a cross-country trek through Chile's vast wine-growing regions. On his return to the United States, he entered Ohio State University to study crop production with a specialty in Viticulture and Enology and received his degree in 1975.

After six years as a vineyard manager and Winemaker in Ohio and upstate New York, Randy moved to California to become associate Winemaker at De Loach Vineyards in Sonoma County. He was promoted to Winemaker and Vice President in 1991. The wines produced during his tenure were consistent gold medal winners at wine competitions.

Hired by Jess Jackson in 1993 as Winemaker for some of our smaller and international vineyards, Randy was handed his most prestigious assignment in 1997 - Winemaster for Kendall-Jackson Winery.

"I look at all of the vineyards we own, and all of the individual lots of wines that we make, and the thousands of barrels we have sitting in our cellar and sometimes I think, you gotta be kidding me! After I've sufficiently recovered from my daily panic attack, I take off my coat, dig in my heels and take it one barrel at a time. It's a rewarding job that I love."

Winemaker Mark Theis

Personal Philosophy on Winemaking: Eke out all that is good from each separate lot and vineyard. Blend so that each taste is more enjoyable and interesting than the last.

Favorite Part of the Process: Working with people, sharing the excitement, arguing opinions and watching the enthusiasm.

If you were snowed in on a mountain-top villa...what two wines would you want? There is a time and place for wine, this calls for something with more anti freeze properties, such as a top shelf bourbon. If that doesn't qualify, anything that Chris makes.
Favorite wine descriptor? It's not so much a word, but the look of "ah."

Mark's Creative Path: Mark was born in Dodge City, Kansas and grew up on a nearby cattle ranch. Like many of his wine industry contemporaries, he began making wine during his high school years. In Mark's spare time, he experimented with fermentation. He later went on to study general agriculture but the winemaking bug had hooked him, and he transferred to UC Davis to study Fermentation Science - graduating in 1979.

Mark worked at Monterey Peninsula Winery as an assistant. The tiny winery proved to be an ideal training ground for a young winemaker. By 1981, he had been appointed Head Winemaker and was crafting very individualistic wines that received a remarkable cult following.

Two years later, he transferred to Husch Winery. Over a period of ten years, he produced a string of critically acclaimed, award-winning wines. Mark joined Kendall-Jackson in 1994 as Winemaker at Lakeport. Over the years, he has honed our Chardonnay winemaking style - a tremendous task. Today, Mark oversees our Burgundian wines (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) in addition to Syrah.

Winemaker Pat Pickett

Personal Philosophy on Winemaking: : I believe the job of a winemaker is to recognize the inherent qualities in each individual lot of wine and, whenever possible, focus those qualities so they shine through powerfully in the finished wine. Often wines will display more character as parts of a blend than they will on their own; in those cases understanding how the wines blend together so they reflect each other's qualities synergistically is critical. We must also understand that wine quality is a direct result of grape quality; coming to know and understand the vineyards is the foundation of making great wine.
Favorite Part of the Process: I love the process of fermentation; it has always fascinated me how this incredibly delicious and complex beverage is transformed from the simplest ingredient - sweet grape juice - by the simplest life forms on earth: yeast and bacteria. These days we are learning more and more about the genetics of the yeast and bacteria that we use in winemaking and their needs and how we can help them complete this transformation well.

If you were snowed in on a mountain-top villa...what two wines would you want? For sure our Stature would be one of them, and then I'd want the Highland Estates Alisos Hills Syrah. Favorite wine descriptor? "Dense," describing the full rich structure of a wine. I think this shows how many of our red wines reflect the greatness of the vineyards they come from, through their density.

Pat's Creative Path: Pat grew up among the vineyards and wineries of Sonoma County. After stints as a carpenter, arborist and waiter in more Sonoma County restaurants than he cares to remember, Pat felt the pull of the land, becoming fascinated with viticulture and winemaking. Like many budding winemakers, he worked in a local tasting room, while studying viticulture at Santa Rosa Junior College, eventually earning a degree in Enology at Fresno State University in 1984. After graduation he set off to build the foundation for his future wine career by working the winter season at one of California's ski resorts. When the spring thaw arrived, and with no broken bones to brag about, he moved to Napa Valley where he became assistant winemaker at a custom winemaking facility catering to a dozen elite wineries. For the next two years, Pat worked closely with a number of other established consulting winemakers where he learned the old adage "there are a hundred different ways to skin a cat." Pat felt the desire to learn how to make wines in a completely traditional Burgundian style, and to gain a better understanding of the Monterey appellation. It let him to a two-year stint at Chalone Vineyards After Chalone, he served as winemaker at Estancia Winery for nearly a decade. "I was able to work with red wines from Alexander Valley and Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Monterey - what more could I ask for?" In 1997, Pat joined Kendall-Jackson as assistant winemaker. In 2004, Pat was promoted to winemaker. Over the years, he has worked closely with various Kendall-Jackson white and red winemakers, managing daily activities at the winery. He also worked as a specialist for the Syrah and Petite Sirah programs and our Burgundian reds at Kendall-Jackson.

Winemaker Matt Smith

Personal Philosophy on Winemaking: Quality starts in the vineyard. A winemaker's role is first to discover the vineyard's potential and then to promote the conditions that maximize that potential. Winemaking is a thoroughly hands-on process; every detail from fermentation to the bottle is critical, and requires full attention.

Favorite Part of the Process: Two things come to mind: first, I always enjoy the time I spend out in the vineyards - especially as harvest approaches.
Second, blending is also hugely rewarding. Working with fruit from the different terroir of the Kendall-Jackson estate vineyards can be staggering ... seeing the common thread in a specific vineyard and the intrinsic differences between the estates.

If you were snowed in on a mountain-top villa...what two wines would you want? What an impossible question to answer! I would have to choose wines from two French winemakers that had a profound effect on my philosophy and style: Jean-Louis Chave's Hermitage Rouge and Dominique Lafon's Domaine des Comtes Lafon Montrachet. Favorite wine descriptor? "Balance." It signifies to me the perfection of the craft. No jagged edges. Perfect harmony between fruit, tannins, alcohol and barrel.

Matt's Creative Path: Raised in Grosse Pointe Park, a suburb of Detroit, Matt started life far from wine country, but his Italian side of the family always kept wine on the table. His great-grandfather was a winemaker in his native Sassoferrato, Italy, and continued that tradition after immigrating to Michigan by purchasing California grapes.

At age 16, Matt first set foot in a wine cave in France's Loire Valley and felt at home. He earned a Bachelor's degree in 1990 from the University of Michigan, in French Language and Political Science. During his undergraduate years, he spent a year abroad at the Université de la Sorbonne in Paris. After graduating, he spent two years living in France and Spain where, among other things, he had the chance to visit winegrowing regions and deepen his interest. He found his way to the Bay Area in 1995 and, soon after, realized that winemaking was his true calling.

He returned to school and completed his studies at UC Davis in 2003 in the graduate group of Viticulture & Enology. Matt was able to combine his passion for travel with that for winemaking while working overseas in Burgundy (for Maison Joseph Drouhin) and Australia (for Mitchelton Wines). He came to Kendall-Jackson in 2004 and has focused on winegrape growing and winemaking of the Bordeaux varietals. In 2006, he was made winemaker, heading the production for Kendall-Jackson wines at the Oakville facility. Today, Matt oversees the production of our Bordeaux wines (Cabernet, Merlot and Meritage).