Jed Steele died a few days ago. He is most famous for creating and naming a blend of Chardonnay known then as Kendall-Jackson Proprietor’s Reserve, now the Vintners Reserve.
The story is he made a blend with sweet muscat and chardonnay and sales of the wine exploded.
Later he left KJ, started his own winery, got sued for infringing trade secrets involving the use of muscat concentrate. I never understood this because Jed was hardly the first to use muscat in chardonnay to make wine more consumer friendly. I have heard that at one time they were buying four tankers full of concentrate.
K-J wines have changed a lot since then, so this is not what they are doing now.
A friend who worked with him said Jed could take five crappy bulk samples and make something delicious. Maybe this is why he was so sought out as a consultant.
I talked him into making a carignan with me. I worked out well, but in the end he was making too many wines and cut down. One of his more popular wines was a sparkling Syrah, popular in strip clubs in The South!
He hated working the market so he would take luxury boxes at baseball games, racetracks etc. People could taste the wine while Jed watched the game. The only time I broke event the track was when I bet on Barrel Boy…who scratched!