Aperture Cellars

Site first, bottle second

Fruit comes before house style in Jesse Katz’s cellar decisions. Jesse Katz, winemaker at Aperture Cellars in Sonoma, built the label in 2009 after Fresno State and head winemaker roles at Lancaster Estate and Roth Winery, carrying forward a site-first discipline rather than a fixed recipe. Aperture works as a small-batch, premium producer, with more than 200 acres across multiple appellations and a sustainable farming philosophy guiding the fruit. The range gives him room to work in Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Chenin Blanc, with the estate and its partner vineyards spread through the Russian River Valley AVA, Alexander Valley AVA and broader Sonoma County. Katz’s own language for the work is terroir-driven: space, place and time held together in the bottle. At Aperture, that idea is not treated as decoration. It is the method, from the vineyard choice to the final blend.

Cabernet structure, Sauvignon Blanc lift

The program at Aperture is built around still red and still white wines, with Bordeaux varieties doing much of the work. Cabernet Sauvignon sits near the center of the cellar, joined by Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, while Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc hold the white side of the bench. Katz’s signature bottlings connected to the house include Aperture Farrow Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Aperture Estate Farrow Ranch Sauvignon Blanc and Montage Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The estate’s scale matters because it gives the winemaker different exposures, appellations and picking decisions to work through without turning the cellar into volume production. The house describes the philosophy as sustainable, and its production as small-batch and premium. Named appellations and site-first blending keep Aperture's portfolio anchored in fruit selected across broader Sonoma County.

Photography in the tasting room

The hospitality center gives Katz’s wines a second frame: the original photography of Andy Katz, Jesse’s father, installed in a gallery-style setting. The winery runs to 24,000 square feet, with a 4,000-square-foot hospitality center shaped by dramatic angles, abundant natural light and floor-to-ceiling windows. The room looks over estate vineyards and the Russian River Valley, with a seated tasting bar, private rooms and an outdoor terrace. This is not a rustic cellar door. It is a light-filled house for tasting, built so the vineyard view and the photographs stay in conversation with the glass. The setting also looks toward a historic 1912 vineyard, giving the room a fixed point beyond the architecture.

The frame stays local

Aperture’s recognition includes placement at 14 on The World’s 50 Best Vineyards list, and the work remains the focus. Katz remains in post, and the next glass still begins with the same discipline: Cabernet structure, Sauvignon Blanc clarity, Sonoma fruit and the view from the 1912 vineyard.