Kendall Jackson winemaker Randy Ullom combined fruit from Monterey County for citrus and floral notes, with fruit from vineyards in the Santa Maria benchland in Santa Barbara for structure and richness to create this wine. Several different clones are in play - including the exotic Rued clone - adding yet more complexity. Enjoy this well-balanced Chardonnay for its tropical and citrus aromas and flavors and notes of apple, vanilla and toast on the finish.

Let this golden beauty sit in the glass a while to warm up and relax, and release the intense, rich aromas. This is a big wine with fruit that is enhanced by French oak — toasty wood that imparts texture in the mouth and gently infuses smoke and spice into the flavors. The wine has lush texture and a firm backbone of acidity. Aromas are green apple, pear, apricot and creme brulee. There is a spicy sweet note on the midpalate. It’s a wine to sip and study in the mouth. Grapes are off hillside vineyards in Monterey County and Santa Barbara County. It is handcrafted from the top 7 percent of all Kendall-Jackson wine lots. This is surely artisan winemaking.

Another tropical fruit driven beauty from Kendall-Jackson. This wine is well balanced with good acidity to balance the abundant citrus, pineapple, and hint of banana in the nose and mouth. Just a joy to drink as a summertime quaffer.

A tasty chardonnay with refreshing acidity. Aromas and flavors of pear, apple and lemon. Lightly toasted. Great minerality. Nice length.

The latter wine's eminently quaffable companion, the 86-point Kendall-Jackson Avant California will appeal to those looking for a lighter but still fruity version...

Very nice yeasty toasty notes in the nose with citrus and peach flavors developing in the mouth. A lot of pleasure and complexity for the price. Try this one.

Chardonnay...and the very likeable, keenly fruited one star Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve California 2012.

When the Kendall-Jackson wine team puts their eyes and palates on the best lots of wine off the best single estate vineyards, the end result always rocks. These Jackson Estate new releases are limited-production wines. They are special. This bright gold gem is intense, complex, packed to the brim with spicy, oak-infused fruit - apple, pineapple, mango and papaya. You can pick up cinnamon from the oak in the aromas. On the palate, it's rich and concentrated, like an essence of Chardonnay; it's lush with that creamy, smoky, vanilla crème brulee character to it. It's full-bodied braced with firm acidity. The grapes are off the hillside above the Santa Maria Bench in Santa Barbara - the premium blocks that Jackson Family Wines calls the Camelot Highlands Vineyard. The vines are 42 years old, so the berries are small and concentrated.

Made from grapes grown on 42-year-old vines, this complex chardonnay is loaded with tropical fruit flavors and a vanilla creme brulee finish.

Lush tropical fruit intertwines with lemon, lime and floral notes. Elegantly layered, this wine exhibits a rich texture and firm backbone with a hint of vanilla and spice to round out the long finish.

Always a good value, this chardonnay is well made with its acidity and alcohol in balance. The bit of residual sugar rounds off the acidity and provides ample mouthfeel. Ripe tropical fruit flavors.

Some (unfortunately, not all) wineries and importers have been getting it, and the overwhelmingly positive response has surprised even them. Kendall-Jackson, for instance, has done a total makeover with the Kendall-Jackson 2011 Avant Chardonnay, California, a crisp, moderate alcohol, breezy, floral style of Chardonnay fashioned from neutral oak and stainless steel fermentations - a significant departure from the fat, buttery, tutti-frutti style long associated with the K-J brand.

Avant gives Kendall-Jackson a different expression for Chardonnay. As a departure from its traditionally made Vintner's Reserve, the Avant blends small lots of wine from prime California regions and ferments a little more than half in stainless steel and the rest in neutral oak barrels. This method preserves the fruit flavors and adds structure and complexity. The 2011 Avant is crisp and dry, with a river of delicate Chardonnay character — green apple, pear, citrus and pineapple, and the slightest hint of oak in the silky mouthfeel and long finish. It finishes dry and herbal. The grapes are from Monterey, Mendocino, Santa Barbara and Sonoma. It’s fresh, crisp, clean. The name Avant? It takes its name from the French word for “before” to reflect the personality of the fruit before it’s touched by oak.

The winery's cool-climate chardonnay, aged in neutral oak and stainless steel, is crisp and bright in fresh apple, pear and tropical fruit goodness, a crowd-pleasing wine that can successfully open up the night as an aperitif or wedge its way seamlessly into a range of mid-week meals, from seafood to chicken to Thai.

2011 Kendall-Jackson Avant Chardonnay, Calif.: intense fruit aromas and flavors of Granny Smith apples and lemons, lean and crisp.

Intense tropical fruit flavors, beautifully woven oak and sturdy acidity are trademarks of the country’s top-selling Chardonnay in its price bracket. Inhale the aromas: pineapple, lime, lemon, mango and papaya with a tease of smoky oak off the barrels. The fruit is all from the cooler climes of Monterey, Santa Barbara, Mendocino and Sonoma. Whole-cluster pressed, fermented and aged in French and American oak, and aged sur lie — you would hardly believe they make oceans of this wine using small-batch methods. It’s still a beauty.

K-J’s Vintner’s Reserve line, basically priced below $20 a bottle, includes some remarkable finds, such as the flagship wine, 2011 Chardonnay ($15). This new release is sprightly and fresh, with nuances of oak aging and superb balance.

2011 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, Calif.: hint of oak, rich tropical fruit flavors including ripe pineapples, creamy and smooth.

One of the most popular Chardonnays in America, KJ's Vintner's Reserve also happens to be remarkably good: rich without being fat, with ripe apricot and citrus notes.

If you like your chardonnay with butterscotch flavors, this is a winner. Loaded with rich tropical fruit flavors and a touch of lemon, it has a generous mouthfeel from the barrel aging.

This tempting Chardonnay is a very good value for a wine offering the richness and complexity that comes through in the glass. Winemaker Randy Ullom blends 50% stainless steel fermented wine with 50% wine that was barrel fermented in neutral oak. This creates a Chardonnay that offers the aromas of pineapple, citrus and mineral and leads to a rich palate with creamy lemon and vanilla flavors mingling with the fresh fruits from the nose – a tasty pairing with oysters and mussels.

Floral butter, cream and mango aromas. The attack is creamy and fresh, with honey, ripe mango, lemon, butter, baked apple on the palate, with a touch of creamy lees. Impressive, fresh, lean style, with ripe fruit that definitely ups the chardonnay ante at KJ.

The Avant is K-J’s answer to the popular unwooded style. Half the juice is fermented in stainless steel and half in neutral oak to broaden the mouth feel. It’s made in a crisp, light style with lots of green apple, lime and lemon zest.

Light and lively, with crisp green apple and pear flavors.

...panelists considered this lightly oaked chard a safe choice. It's an easy-to-drink, middle-of-the-road wine that's sold at many stores...It's not monster-buttery, not leesy-cheesy. It's right in the middle, Tidwell said.