6 days Ago By Chris Chamberlain
When celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres or Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel want to create their own wines, they turn to vintner Jesse Katz. It’s not just because he has experience making wines in some of the finest growing regions around the world. It's not even because Wine Enthusiast named him one of its "40 Under 40 Tastemakers," or that he's the first winemaker on the Forbes "30 Under 30" list.
It’s because he speaks the language of art. His father is Andy Katz , the legendary art photographer known for his striking images taken in the vineyards with little or no digital manipulation. They have become the subject of renowned coffee-table books, and they're on the labels of Jesse’s wines from Aperture Cellars.
The name, of course, comes from a photographic term for the opening of a lens. Traveling around the world with his father, Jesse became enamored with the craft of winemaking. “You’re either born into the industry or you buy into it,” he explained to me during an interview last month.
Growing up in Boulder, Colo., Jesse knew he’d have to move to further his education — specifically in California. Jesse has thrown himself into the business, traveling around the world and returning to regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy, where he first tasted wine with his father as a preteen.
He spent time at legendary wineries like Screaming Eagle and Pétrus, and earned a reputation as a talented winemaker with a nuanced palate. In 2009 he launched Aperture , focusing on Bordeaux varietals. As part of the new generation of winemakers, Jesse saw the ecological changes that were affecting the industry.
“California is getting warmer and drier, so I was looking for a long-term solution,” he recalled. Jesse decided to focus on the Alexander Valley and Russian River areas, with their cooler nights and (slightly) lower land prices than Napa. Miel Plans What They’re Calling THE Cooking Class Get your kitchen Ph.
D. in one night later this month Through his career, he has produced more than 20 100-point wines from a vineyard property that he owns while still consulting for other brands. Much of his sales come through the direct-to-consumer channel, but he has recently launched in Nashville with Lipman as his distributor.
With the acquisition of even more plots for growing, Katz has chosen to design his wines around specific soil types instead of specific sites. “There’s a huge diversity of conditions in Sonoma. You have hillside versus volcanic soils, plus clay loam and marine sediment.
Not to mention all the individual microclimates,” he explains. Managing all these variables is what makes Jesse and Aperture stand out with its broad range of products classified by soil type, vineyard site and single-varietal creations. While Jesse certainly makes some small-lots wines in the $200-to-$550 range, he also offers plenty of options at more affordable prices.
I sampled a $75 bottle of his Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (it’s actually a Bordeaux blend with trace amounts of petit verdot, malbec and merlot), and I would pick it over a Silver Oak from the same valley at twice the price. The intense dark fruit revealed a delicate floral nose but was brawny on the palate, offering notes of leather and tobacco along with plenty of oak until it faded into a long and complex finish that returned to the delicate floral beginning. Now that you should begin to see Aperture wines on liquor store shelves and restaurant wine lists, it might be worth a little mini splurge to try a bottle.
You can’t miss the gorgeous photography on the labels, and why not experience art you can drink?.
