Jess Stonestreet Jackson, Jr.
| Jess Stonestreet Jackson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 18, 1930 San Francisco, California |
| Died | April 21, 2011 (aged 81) Geyserville, California |
| Alma mater | California–Berkeley |
| Occupation | Wine entrepreneur |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Banke |
Jess Stonestreet Jackson Jr. (February 18, 1930 – April 21, 2011) was an American wine entrepreneur, lawyer and self-made businessman. He started the Kendall-Jackson wine business with the family's 1974 purchase of an 80-acre (32 ha) pear and walnut orchard in Lakeport, California that was converted to a vineyard. The first release of Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay in 1982 closed the gap between the super premium and cheap wine market. Today, Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay is one of the most popular wines on the market. His style as a vintner was focused upon single-vineyard, mountain grown wines.
Jess Jackson grew up during the Great Depression and was raised in San Francisco's Sunset District. His father, a teacher, was out of work three times while he was growing up, and there were times when the family had to survive only on rice. To help support his family, Jackson started working at an early age. From the age of five, when he got his first job as a paper boy, he worked a variety of careers, including candy maker, a soda jerk, a temp at the post office, a hops picker, a longshoreman, a teamster, a lifeguard, an ambulance driver, among other things, all before graduating from the University of California Berkeley law school.
Jackson graduated from San Francisco's Abraham Lincoln High School. He earned a law degree from Boalt Hall Law School at the University of California, Berkeley. While studying law he simultaneously held down jobs as a dock laborer, Berkeley policeman and an ambulance driver to put himself through school. Upon his graduation from Boalt in 1951, Jackson started practicing real estate law.
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