Avant is a modern take on Chardonnay: minimal oak, maximum fruit. This 2015 vintage from vineyards in Monterey County, Santa Barbara County and Mendocino sings. It has aromas of pineapple, green apple, lemon and pear, and flavors of green apple and lemon drop. It’s braced with bright, firm acidity and sleek minerality. I love this 2015 vintage.

The huge success of Kendall-Jackson's Vintner's Reserve put Chardonnay on the map in the 1990's so, when K-J came out with a minimal-oak version, Avant, it was a sure sign that change was in the air. It still has the sort of ripe fruit one finds in the standard bottling, but here it’s dancing with a bright yellow crispness, both shining pure and clear thanks to not being smothered in oak.

Very expressive chardonnay with a brush of oak and vibrant tropical fruit flavors. Delicious and balanced.

Goin' out west. These California wines are ideal for outdoor entertaining. What could be better than a crisp rosé or juicy Chardonnay to kick back with on a sunny day? Or if there are burgers on hand, there's a Zinfandel for that. Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay California Vintner's Reserve 2015. Beeswax, baked pear, lemon tart, mineral, pastry; fresh zesty.

Vintner’s Reserve has an admirable track record as one of America’s best-selling Chardonnays. The winery produces more than two millions cases each vintage, with fruit sourced exclusively from its own vineyards spanning from Monterey, Santa Barbara, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. The result is a rich, refreshing style that's appealingly ripe and round with nice brightness and charm. Four stars.

Chardonnay Masters 2017: Master The leading light among these was North America’s best-selling ‘premium’ Chardonnay, Kendall-Jackson’s Vintner’s Reserve – a barrel-aged white wine made on a massive scale, but to an extremely high standard, and, importantly, in a creamy style that would delight any longtime Chardonnay drinker on a budget.

Rich, a seamless infusion of oak, juicy flavors and acidity, and when you swallow, the flavors persist. It’s a fuller-bodied wine than Avant. Flavors are intensely tropical: pineapple, mango, papaya, tart green apple with a kiss of oak. So delicious. This wine has been the top-selling Chardonnay in the U.S. for almost 25 years. It was the wine everybody coveted when I first started writing about wine. And it hasn’t changed a bit.

On Premise Advice: The Best of the Best in 2017 ...All was not lost in this year’s selections. I noticed Roederer Estate Brut, Tait “The Ball Buster,” and Justin, “Justification,” all at levels of production that allow them to be shipped into Rhode Island. But, one wine in particular jumped out at me, number 28, the 2015 Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay. I thought this was remarkable, because at more than 100,000 cases produced, it is readily available and it is ubiquitous in off-premise and on-premise. By the way, many over the years have turned their noses up at this wine because it was everywhere, citing quality, mass production. K-J Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay has been produced for more than 30 years, and if it were not for the suggestion of my salesman back in the mid-80s, I may have missed placing it on The Mooring’s list, where it quickly became the number one selling wine by-the-glass and continues as such to this day. K-J has changed this wine’s style over the years. When it was first released, it was somewhat sweet, to meet the demand of consumers who were transitioning from white zinfandel to drier wines, and it was a perfect compromise. Since then, the style has evolved to a drier chardonnay that is made with a lot of care. It retails for about $17 and is probably around $9 or $10 wholesale, but don’t quote me on that. My point: if you are not pouring this wine, you should be. It is well known, highly rated, reasonably priced and available. It’s not often that a wine shows up on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list that has all these attributes and I would guess that there will be a spike in demand just because of this rating, especially in retail as the price point is sort of the sweet spot for decent lifestyle wines. If you are already pouring it, bravo! You have a strong selling point, let your staff know. As a reminder, your guests are looking to you to have a beverage program that is current, and this K-J offering makes that simple.

Wine & Food pairing recommendation Unique pairings such as the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Chardonnay, California, 2015 , (with tropical flavors of pineapple, mango and papaya, seamlessly integrated with citrus notes in the mouth), with shrimp in Thai sauce , mint, cilantro, basil and Peanut, or Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve, Pinot Noir, California, 2014 (a garnet jewel with aromas of cherry, strawberry and raspberry with elegant earthy notes framed with a spicy touch), roasted asparagus with black truffle, Organic goat cheese, portobellos and arugula, revealed the world of possibilities of this Californian winery.

White Night - A Night in California Creamy and buttered in the nose, one perceives a certain roundness. On the palate we note the presence of tropical fruits comem papaya and mango, but which are very well balanced with a taste of honey and vanilla. A lively and easy wine.

Three well priced and readily available wines that made the Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines of the year are the 2015 Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay…

The best holiday wines under $20: 2017/2018 edition These are 13 of the most affordable, crowd-pleasing bottles of vino you can bring to a festive feast. There's a reason this special bottle from Kendall-Jackson has been the No.1-selling chardonnay in America for the last 25 years. Hand-crafted in small vineyard lots in Sonoma County, CA, this quintessential chardonnay has notes of pineapple, mango, and citrus, a velvety hint of toasted oak and butter, and a luxurious mouthfeel that'll keep you refilling glass after glass. A sure-fire winner at any holiday party or dinner, serve this bottle with seafood or a creamy pasta.

Possibly the most famous and probably the most popular California Chardonnay, this rich wine is sourced from Kendall-Jackson's own vineyards around the state, including Santa Barbara and Mendocino.

Well-heeled wine lovers courted with luxury chardonnay Vintner’s Reserve has an admirable track record as one of America’s best selling chardonnays. The winery produces more than two millions cases each vintage, with fruit sourced exclusively from the winery’s own vineyards spanning from Monterey, Santa Barbara, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. The result is a rich, refreshing style that’s appealingly ripe and round that makes this an enjoyable Chardonnay.

I last reviewed the 2014 vintage of this wine and enjoyed it. This one is slightly golden in color with a nice nose of pear and vanilla. On the mid palate the wine matches the nose with the usual suspects, pear and some apple. On the medium length finish the wine displays some nice subtle vanilla notes along with some acidity. This is a super food friendly wine, we paired it with pan seared scallops and it went beautifully. This is absoloutely not an over oaked chard. The fruit is still present and the star of the show. I am thrilled to see this wine is continuing to be consistent year over year. Not all are, which is why re-review a wine when a new vintage comes out. Sometimes, sadly, a wine that has been a fav or a goto becomes a yuk. Not this one!!!!! I would give it an 88+. The LCBO call it full bodied and rich and I whole heartedly agree! This is a typical chard in that if you serve it too cold you will miss a lot of the complexity. Be sure and take it out of the fridge an hour or so before the meal, or watch it evolve in the glass as it warms ….

Keep festive dinner wine choices simple… A masterful blend of California Chardonnay – 47 per cent from Monterey, 30 per cent from Santa Barbara, 22 per cent Mendocino with 1 per cent from Sonoma – Kendall-Jackson 2015 Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay (296566) $24.79 was judged #28 on Wine Spectator’s list of Top 100 wines of 2017. It overwhelms the senses with mango and pineapple aromas and flavours over a base of crisp citrus, honeyed apples and pears with persistent buttery oak notes.

Chardonnay Masters 2017: Gold

The Chardonnay Curve, a guide to a former California favorite that’s making a flavorful comeback Pineapple, mango and papaya with a creamy, rich palate. Notes of cinnamon, lime, and crème brûlèe on the finish.

Although this chardonnay presents abundant ripe tropical fruit notes especially pineapple, it does so in a elegant presentation that won’t overpower food. Vanilla and spice notes complement the fruit and make this a very enticing wine.

K-J certainly knows a thing or two about chardonnay, an expertise that serves it well with the remarkably consistent Avant line of K-J wines. I love the balance in this one.

In 2011, the same year that Jess Jackson passed away, the winery introduced Avant Chardonnay - a mostly steel aged alternative to the popular oak-aged Vintner's Reserve. The 2014 is delicious, with a fresh, peachy tang.

A fruit-forward chardonnay with notes of apple and lemon. Bright acidity. Refreshing.

Say what you like about Kendall-Jackson’s winemaking choices, you can’t fault their commercial acumen. A few years ago, sensing a growing trend among drinkers of California Chardonnay to move away from creamy oak-bombs towards more linear versions, they came up with Avant Chardonnay. The 2014 vintage, $17, is simply designated “California” which I take to mean it’s a blend of fruit from K-J’s multiple vineyard properties. The label proclaims “FRESH/CRISP/CLEAN”, and for once a label description is correct. Wow! Pretty unusual stuff. I wade through endless press releases, PR fluff telling me that this or that $14 wine from Lodi really, really is as packed full of the most extraordinary adjectives as the next vintage of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. So, when a wine claims to be fresh, crisp and clean, and actually is, I am thrilled, so unexpected and rare is this treat in a California Chardonnay.

This chestnut — it was the “it” wine 30 years ago and still is — maintains its finely hewn style and quality: integrated oak, a sturdy spine of acidity and rich fruit flavors that range from green apple and pineapple to papaya and mango. It has roaring aromas of green apple, pineapple, citrus and white stone fruit that echo on the palate with a kiss of toasty oak. Let it sit in the glass. Flavors relax and come together, and you pick up more of the oak infusion. And that snappy acidity is the glue that holds this package together. After all these years, it’s still a classy wine with quality that is unfaltering.

The Vintner’s Reserve has bright acidity and tropical notes of mango and pineapple. It also has toasty oak and a hint of butter. The chardonnay has broad appeal because it’s a slightly sweeter version of the varietal.