Wine

Wine of the Week – 2005 Kendall-Jackson Stature Meritage

Posted by Martin D. Redmond on

My Wine of the Week (“WoW”) for May 26-June 1 is the 2005 Kendall-Jackson Stature Meritage

The Winery

Kendall-Jackson(“K-J”) was founded in 1982 by Jess Jackson (who passed away last year). K-J is renowned for their  iconic Vintners Reserve Chardonnay (for the “turning lemons into lemonade” story behind the Chardonnay, click here), a wine that closed the gap between the premium and cheap wine market segments thirty years ago.  It’s a wine that  has met much commercial success.  Even today, the Vintners Reserve Chardonnay is a staple at the White House.

Today, K-J, a family run business, is one of the largest  winery holding companies in the US.  Jackson Family Wine Portfolio owns 19 other wineries, including Cardinale, Freemark Abbey, La Crema, and Murphy Goode in the US, as well as wineries in Australia, France, and Italy.

The Wine

I’ve been holding on to this bottle of wine for a couple of years.  It was a birthday gift from the cellar of my boss ( Generous boss huh?!)  Here’s what the KJ website says:

Stature represents the pinnacle of Kendall-Jackson winemaking excellence. Created from only our finest estate vineyards and handcrafted without compromise, it offers the ultimate expression of wine artistry.

This is a Bordeaux-style blend of  Blend 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and 5% Malbec. According to Wine Enthusiast, most of the fruit is from the Stagecoach Vineyard (I’m starting to notice a trend here…this is my third WoW with fruit sourced from the Stagecoach Vineyard!) .

2005 Kendall-Jackson Stature

My tasting notes follow:

Opaque inky purple-black color with lifted cassis, cedarwood, black cherry aromas. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, refined, yet powerful, focused and balanced with vibrant cassis, and blueberry fruit flavors, along with vanilla, and a bit of cacao. Long finish. – 92pts

Recommendation: Highly Recommended – This is an excellent wine.  And it’s drinking beautifully now! It could be a challenge to find a bottle of the 2005 vintage (The 2006 is currently available on the KJ websitefor $125/bottle).

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5 Comments

  1. JeffIsRad says:
    June 5, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    Sounds like a fun bottle, Martin.
    Great post.

    1. Martin D. Redmond says:
      June 5, 2012 at 5:27 pm

      Thanks Jeff, and big ups on the boatload of Wine Blogger nominations!

  2. Brian says:
    June 6, 2012 at 9:53 am

    So glad you enjoyed the wine, Martin. Stature is one of those wines where, once it comes out, there’s suddenly a crowd around the vineyard and offices. It’s a special occasion wine for me personally.

    If you want, you can chat more with the winemaker who puts a lot of his blood, sweat and tears into it (only, you know, not really) on Twitter at @ms_kjBDX

    1. Martin D. Redmond says:
      June 8, 2012 at 8:29 am

      Brian…Thanks for info. I’ll be sure to follow the winemaker on Twitter! Cheers!

  3. Phil Connolly says:
    June 7, 2012 at 5:45 am

    MDR – great review and glad you enjoyed the bottle.

Comments are closed.