Our take
Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir California Red Wine
- Style
- Red wine
- Size
- 750 ml
- Grape
- Pinot Noir
- Region
- California
- Shelf barcode
- 0081584131519
Our take
What we make of this bottle
The cheapest our September 2026 checks caught this bottle was $16.99. Shoppers have rated it 41 times, a count that puts it among the most rated wines in our catalog. Their average is 4.41, and most of the rated wines we cover average higher.
The brand's story is the kind that can be checked. Kendall-Jackson says it has been family grown since 1982, and it places its Wine Estate & Gardens at 5007 Fulton Road in Santa Rosa. Both statements come from the company's own site, so this is the producer speaking about itself, but a year and a street address are specific enough for anyone to test. It is marketing, but marketing with an address.
If you are standing at the red wine shelf deciding between this and a Cabernet, the grape is a practical difference. Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned red grape, and guides to the category list red cherry, berry and plum as its usual fruit, with paler color and gentler tannin than Cabernet Sauvignon brings. Depending on where it grows and how ripe it is picked, the style can land pale and delicate or deeper and fuller. The high we saw in those September 2026 checks was $32.99.
Kendall-Jackson's own product page for the current 2024 vintage adds detail behind the coastal sourcing: Monterey County fruit contributes floral notes and ripe berry flavor, and Santa Barbara County contributes dark cherry character, according to the producer. The wine lists 14.5 percent alcohol and spends time in French oak barrels, which the producer credits with a hint of vanilla and a soft, toasty finish layered onto the bright cherry, strawberry and raspberry fruit its own tasting notes describe.
Our call: reach for it if a confirmed Pinot Noir from a house that calls itself family grown since 1982, with an address anyone can check and named vineyard sourcing besides, is the profile you shop by; one of the larger rating pools we cover has given it a real hearing. Pass if that hearing is what you weigh most, because the average falls below the middle of the rated wines we cover; here the producer's story, not the score, makes the argument.
The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.
More from the desk.
Related bottles with a written overview and a public evidence file.
Hahn Estates
Read our take →RICKSHAW
Rickshaw Pinot Noir California Red Wine
Read our take →The Dreaming Tree
The Dreaming Tree Pinot Noir California Red Wine
Read our take →Barefoot
Barefoot Cellars Pinot Noir California Red Wine
Read our take →Decoy
Decoy Pinot Noir
Read our take →Sunny with a Chance of Flowers
Sunny with a Chance of Flowers Pinot Noir California Low Calorie Red Wine
Read our take →The prices we checked
Dated store checks, not a promise about your store.
- Kroger, Atlanta suburbs, GA$23.99
- Kroger, Cincinnati, OH$16.99
- Ralphs, Long Beach, CA$18.99
- Fred Meyer, Portland, OR$32.99
- King Soopers, Colorado Springs, CO$19.99
- Smith's, Las Vegas, NV$21.99
- Kroger, Knoxville, TN$16.99
- Kroger, Richmond, VA$17.99
- Fry's, Tucson, AZ$17.99
- QFC, Tacoma, WA$19.99
The regular price can vary by store and date.
From the producer
Founding and estate location
Kendall-Jackson says it has been family grown since 1982, and its Wine Estate & Gardens is located at 5007 Fulton Road in Santa Rosa, California.
Research status
What we are still checking
Our overview above draws on the dated store feed, shopper ratings, our region and grape research, and any sourced producer facts. We are still working to confirm the current release, the full producer record, and the bottle itself, and we update this page as we learn more.
Getting to know California.
California on the label is useful provenance but weak detail about place. For these wines, sourcing disclosure, blend construction and house-style consistency carry more decision value than a generic climate paragraph.
What the name means
A state-level appellation, broader than an individual American Viticultural Area. It permits a multi-region blend and does not by itself identify one climate or soil.
How grapes grow here
The state spans cool maritime zones and hot inland valleys. A California designation alone does not reveal which conditions shaped the fruit.
What lies under the vines
At state scale, sourcing and house-style construction matter more than any single soil story.
How large the region is
- Reusable question
- Which counties or AVAs supplied the blend, and did that mix change by release?
Places within the region
- Resolution limit
- County, AVA and vineyard claims begin only when the release names them.
Getting to know Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir is a red grape with relatively thin skins. It is used for still red wine and as one of the main grapes in many traditional-method sparkling wines.
Category guide
What to expect in the glass
Regional category guides commonly describe red cherry, berry and plum, with lighter color and less tannin than Cabernet Sauvignon. Site and ripeness can shift it from bright and delicate to darker and fuller.
Sources: New Zealand Winegrowers; Napa Valley Vintners. Checked Aug 10, 2026. See all 105 Pinot Noir wines we cover →
Where this information comes from
- Store listing
- Price, package, product identifier, and shopper rating. Checked Aug 10, 2026.
- Barcode
- The shelf barcode shown here is computed from the store product identifier. It has not been checked against a bottle.
- Method
- Every price, rating and fact here is a dated observation. How we check.