The most important woman in the world of wine is unfortunately little publicized. I mentioned Barbara Banke’s name to the well-connected manager of one of their UK importers and it meant nothing. Banke is the widow of energetic California attorney Jess Jackson, who founded a business empire with the highly successful Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay brand. His hint of sweetness, initially rumored to have been accidental, gave American wine drinkers just what they were looking for in the 1980s. Since then, Banke has transformed Jackson Family Wines into a sustainability leader in wines that it now has around 50 brands, premium operations in eight countries, and a workforce that loves it.

Last month when she came to England for Royal Ascot I finally got to interview her. We spent a day at the races, where it became clear that she knows and cares just as much about racing as our late Queen (with whom she discussed equine matters at a polo match not long ago). Her interest in breeding racehorses began in 2003. “Jess was driving me crazy micromanaging her, deciding which assistants were assigned to which cubicle at which wine company, [so] I told him to find a hobby,” he recalls. He dedicated himself to breeding racehorses and she did the same. Two years ago, she became the first woman elected president of the prestigious US Breeders’ Cup, thanks to the extraordinary achievements of Thoroughbreds bred on her Stonestreet Farms in Kentucky.

An Angeleno, Banke’s weekend entertainment when he graduated from Hastings College in San Francisco as a lawyer was forays into wine country. He met Jackson in the courtroom in 1978. Six years later, they married and had three children, all of whom are now involved with Jackson Family Wines, as are Jackson’s two daughters from his first marriage and their progeny, which raises the total number of family members. members with position in the company up to 13.

Jackson was the leader, but Banke was already so involved in the wine company that, when he died in 2011, her transition to president and owner was, according to CEO Rick Tigner, “smooth.”

His interest in breeding racehorses began in 2003. ‘Jess was driving me crazy with his micromanagement. . .[so]I told him to find a hobby,’ he recalls.

Her husband left a legacy of highly regarded wine estates in Napa Valley and especially Sonoma, where the company is headquartered. But Banke’s empire is still expanding, to the tune of more than $150 million spent on its development over the last five years alone. Banke and her eldest daughter, Julia, have acquired two wineries on Vancouver Island, not well known as a wine region but shrewdly chosen because it is more temperate than British Columbia’s Established Wine Country. In another move designed to defy global warming, they have bet big on a cooler, wetter Oregon to add to their properties in Monterey, Mendocino and Santa Barbara counties. Projects too recent to have appeared on the company’s website include a venture in Walla Walla, Washington state, and a Sancerre and Loire Chenin Blanc called Passerelle, due for release next year.

Jackson Family Wines also recently announced a foray into english wine production. Banke and his family, especially his son Chris and his wife Ariel, love England and have long wanted to move to vine farming here.

A hallmark of the group is the extraordinary level of autonomy granted to each state, such that the big-business ethos so evident and often paralyzing in other big wine companies seems completely absent. This is despite the fact that Tigner estimates that it produces over a thousand different products in any given year and owns around 14,000 acres of prime vineyards.

JFW recently added a third Australian winery, Giant Steps, joining McLaren Vale’s organic pioneer Yangarra and historic Hickinbotham. Banke recruited Melbourne Wine Show Chief Judge Melanie Chester as a new winemaker at Giant Steps, a Yarra Valley winery she already enjoyed an excellent reputation, and asked if she sincerely wanted to continue to improve the wines. “She loves large estates,” Chester said of Banke, who admits that her legal background (she has no formal wine background) is very helpful in her continued quest to expand the empire.

When he told me “I love Burgundy”, I realized that he was not referring to the wine but to his dream of acquiring land there. We should have something, but it’s too expensive. It doesn’t matter, we’ll fix it. Between the UK, Oregon, Canada and Giant Steps, we will make a similar style of wine.”

So where is it next? In my pre-Ascot hour with her in the elegant drawing room of Farleigh House on the outskirts of Basingstoke, which she now rents every June, Piedmont, Germany and Tasmania were mentioned. “I’m not a big fan of the jammy, over-extracted Mega Purple types of wine,” she said, referring to the notorious concentrated grape color additive, “but my palate has evolved over the years.”

It was in the early years of this century that Jackson Family Wines began its leadership in sustainability, initially auditing and then limiting chemical inputs at each estate. He is now involved in a wide range of programs, including regenerative viticulture, light weight of your bottlesrecycling wastewater, eliminating non-native species and introducing livestock (producing manure, chewing cover crops) on their farms.

In 2019, JFW co-founded International Wineries for Climate Action, a growing group of winemakers committed to reducing their carbon emissions. Many initiatives have been inspired by the devastating 2017 Sonoma fires that left many Jackson employees and some members of their family homeless, prompting Banke to purchase a near-complete apartment block that was ready for his workers to move into. They will move in two weeks. “People before profit,” Tigner summed up on the return trip to London from Ascot.

Ariel Jackson has been leading a plan to clear brush and remove flammable materials to protect their properties from fire. Katie Jackson has been responsible for the company’s sustainability credentials and government relations. Her husband, Shaun Kajiwara, is the company’s vineyard director and has started a farm labor contractor that brings in legally documented workers from Mexico. “It’s been very good for us,” says Banke, who is well aware of the problems associated with farm work.

So do I have a critique of this stunner who claims to have become such a standout actor simply by casting the right people? Only, I suppose, the extent to which she depends on her private plane, which seems at odds with such a commitment to sustainability.

Banke will turn 70 in August and is planning three parties: one with family in Sonoma, one in Kentucky “with people on horseback” and perhaps one in New York. His long-time international adviser, Nick Bevan, added: “And maybe a celebration in London, because he loves to go pub-hopping.”

Tasting notes, scores and suggested drink dates in the purple pages of JancisRobinson.com. Some international distributors in wine-searcher.com

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