Jess Jackson bought an 80-acre pear and walnut orchard in Lake County in 1974 as a getaway from his successful law practice in San Francisco.

He took out the pears and walnuts and planted some grapes and when the vines matured started selling his grapes to vintners in the area. By 1982 he decided to make some wine under his own label, and his 1983 chardonnay won the first of many awards Kendall-Jackson earned over the years.

Today the empire of Jess Jackson and his family encompasses two dozen wineries throughout the world.

Five of those wineries are in Napa Valley — and three of them have been acquired in just the past year.

The sudden growth spurt in Napa is “just a natural extension of what we’ve been doing,” according to Clay Gregory, president of Jackson Family Wines. “K-J was a chardonnay house, and we went to all the best places for chardonnay, Santa Maria, then Monterey, then Sonoma.” He said the company sought the best places for pinot noir, such as the Russian River Valley, and added, “We make wines where (the varietals) grow best. ... If we were not in Napa Valley, we’d miss an opportunity to be in one of the best cab places in the world,” he added.

The company’s Napa Valley properties — Cardinale, Atalon, Lokoya, La Jota and the newest addition to the portfolio, Freemark Abbey are highly-regarded for their cabernet sauvignons and cabernet-based blends.

“We’re continually looking for estate vineyards — we’d like to have vineyards in other mountain AVAs, like Spring Mountain or Diamond Mountain,” Gregory said. La Jota is nestled high on Howell Mountain, Lokoya sources grapes from vineyards on Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain and Mount Veeder, Cardinale uses grapes from Howell Mountain and Mount Veeder, and Atalon has a Howell Mountain-designated cabernet sauvignon. “We’re close to 100 percent estate grown,” he said.

The company has expanded, “but we’re not trying to be big from a volume standpoint,” he said. The total Napa Valley production from all brands is less than 100,000 cases, and all are upper-end, “which is appropriate for Napa Valley,” he said.

Although the wineries have common ownership, each is operated as a separate entity, although three of them — Cardinale, La Jota and Lokoya — share the same winemaker, Chris Carpenter.

“Each is individual, each has its own marketing team and its own management team,” Gregory said, “They don’t even share mailing lists.”

But they do use the same distribution system. Gregory said it’s more efficient to operate distribution, human resources and information technology from a single source.

Each of the Napa Valley wineries is a member of Napa Valley Vintners and participates in Premiere Napa Valley and Auction Napa Valley. The three that offer tasting — Atalon, Cardinale and Freemark Abbey — also participate in NVV’s Napa Neighbor program. “We want to be a part of the community,” Gregory said.

Cardinale was the first to make its Napa Valley debut, in 1994, and Lokoya was founded a year later. La Jota came into the fold in 2005, and Freemark Abbey was acquired earlier this year. Atalon, which was created in 1997, now has a winery of its own with the acquisition of the Robert Pecota facility in Calistoga in July, and crushed its first fruit there this year. It has been re-named Atalon.

More Napa Valley presence

The Jackson family has other interests in Napa Valley.

Pepi, specializing in Italian varieties, with emphasis on sangiovese and pinot grigio, is made in Napa Valley, adjacent to Cardinale, but the grapes are sourced throughout California and bear the California appellation.

White Rocket Wine Company, headquartered at Gateway Corporate Park in Napa, is a new company formed to create new brands aimed at the Millennial generation, a fast-growing segment of the wine market. White Rocket’s new brands will carry a California appellation, and will incorporate some of Jackson’s other labels including Camelot, Dog House and Tin Roof.

Although it’s not in Napa County, Pelton House is close by in Knight’s Valley, just over the county line off Highway 128. It’s a new brand specializing in cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and the goal is to build a small 5,000-case winery there, Gregory said. “The wines are not quite as distinctive as (those in) Napa Valley, but there is a lot of potential,” he said.

Gregory, who has been with Jackson for two and a half years, and in his current position since June, is well-known in Napa Valley. He was vice president and general manager of Robert Mondavi Winery’s Oakville facility before being caught up in a major force reduction three years ago, and he served as president of the Napa Valley Vintners in 2003.

Because of his affiliation with Mondavi, which was publicly-owned at the time, he had a vantage point to contrast public and family-owned operations.

“You get caught up in the stock price (with a public company), and the analysts who follow the company aren’t wine people — they’re beverage industry analysts,” he said, indicating that they follow all beverage companies, like Coca Cola and Pepsi. They look at the asset base, and many public companies sell off assets to show a better return, he said.

“We don’t have to look to quarter-to-quarter results, we can build over generations,” he continued. “The family gets to run the show. There’s no outside board pushing in an outside direction. That makes (a family-owned business) more nimble, and we can change directions quickly.”

He added one more thought: “Family companies have a lot more passion about wine. They have more enthusiasm.”