94pts James Suckling

Aromas of lemon peel, nectarines, almonds, toasted oak and crushed stones. The palate is full-bodied with good tension and bright acidity, giving flavors of citrus, white peaches and brioche. Energetic and balanced.

Tasting Notes

Reflecting the expansive character of the Wente clone, this Chardonnay reflects both complexity and sculpted longevity. Harmonizing its terroir driven minerality with rich sculpted intensity, this wine unveils aromas of brioche, toasted almond, hazelnut andgreen Anjou pear. The palate delivers delicate crisp green apple, poached pear, and lemon custard flavors. 

While ready to enjoy now, this wine’s acidity and minerality will engender continued complexity throughout the next decade.

About the Wine

Named after its fine grained soil, Dutton Ranch’s “moon dust” vineyard provides purity and minerality. Winemaker Kirk Venge ages this wine in 30% new French oak over 10 months. The harmonic concentration of fruit flavors frame the subtle nuance of the French oak barrels resulting in a vibrant yet rich and complex palate. This wine is bottled unfiltered and unfined to allow its innate character to evolve. We call this wine “decadence inside and out.”

Winery Notes

Brother and sister team, Trent and Kimberly Jackson collaborated with their vintner “green thumb” father to found their first label in 1996.  Over time the two identified their unique niche among next generation wine enthusiasts. Outliers from the dominating short list of old school napa wineries, the two saw an opportunity to buck the “en vogue” winemaking style of their day to focus on the unique terroir of their family vineyard.   After all, “change comes first at a small scale driven by the smaller more nimble producers.”

Soon after, cult Winemaker Kirk Venge was recruited to create balanced wines reflecting varietal character and a sense of place.   Passionate about our vineyard site, integral to our clone and root stalk selections, and now 20 years in, Kirk has reinforced their instinct that focus should always be on “sense of place” to understand the nuances that allow us to make great wine.

To differentiate from their small lot single vineyard Jax line, they launched “Y3” to scale and offer more “true to varietal” wines from various AVAs (spanning Napa and Sonoma).   The “Y3” symbol was the cattle symbol used on their grandparents’ cattle ranch, Yarrayne.  The “3” represents three generations of land tilling entrepreneurs.

In 2013, the siblings recruited a third partner, Dan Parrott, a no nonsense individual with a laser focus on balanced wines (historically working in Italian, French and Spanish import houses) and a true burgundian aficionado.  Dan keeps the sibling rivalry in check and runs Jax like a well oiled machine.