Winemaker Jesse Katz on the importance of the county to California (Viti)culture
This article originally appeared in the June/July 2024 issue of The SOMM Journal.
In April of 2024, I met with Jesse Katz at his Aperture Cellars estate in Healdsburg, California, to sample wines from his new project in partnership with the nearby Montage Healdsburg. The label, Surveyor, comes from 15.5 acres of vines he helped plant on the resort property. As we sampled the three current releases—a plush, full-bodied, spicy 2021 Sauvignon Blanc ($55); a mineral-bright, acid-driven 2023 Rosé ($75); and a coiled-up, super-expressive, dark-berried 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon ($125)—our conversation turned to the surging growth of Sonoma County, in particular the area around Healdsburg, and what it means for the future of the California wine industry. This is what he had to say:
“From a winemaking standpoint, we’re a young region still figuring out what grows best. You can make sparkling wines, Zinfandel, Syrah, and all the Bordeaux varieties at an incredibly high level; when I started Aperture in 2009, I thought we had some of the best terroirs in the world for making Bordeaux reds, and that’s playing out today. [What’s more,] even ten years ago, when thinking about cooler areas in Occidental or Fort Ross, people didn’t think there would be great success in growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. But that mindset has shifted.
“From a culinar y standpoint, the city of Healdsburg has become a mecca for food and wine culture. Look at Single- Thread—the first three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Sonoma County. We have so many amazing chefs and food concepts. I think of Dustin Valette and all his creativity at The Matheson, Roof 106, and Valette. There’s Willi’s Seafood and Molti Amici with world-class Italian cuisine, and just north in Geyserville [there’s] Catelli’s or Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria or Douglas Keane’s one-Michelin-starred Cyrus. Further south of Healdsburg, there’s Ramen Gaijin in Sebastopol, a town with a really cool scene that is more out of the box and very focused on quality.
“The hospitality and resort accommodations are at the next level. Hotel Healds- burg plays off the uniqueness of the city’s beautiful central square, and more recently, you have the Montage, one of the great luxury resorts in the world situated here in Healdsburg. I think people will come here and think they’re in Napa just because of the level of sophistication and luxury.
“I opened up a tasting room for The Setting Wines [Katz’s Napa-based project] at Bacchus Landing a minute outside downtown Healdsburg, where a small collective of wineries offer tastings. It’s a venue that has given Healdsburg another location for larger events like Sonoma Epicurean and [the] Healdsburg Wine & Food [Experi- ence]. And that’s just the start of it.”
Like Katz, I’m a big Sonoma fan who’s spent many weekends hiking, eating, and drinking my way around the county. Bring- ing in over $1 billion annually to California through wine tourism, it is a vital region for the U.S. wine and food industry that employs more than 50,000 people full time.
So the next time you’re designing a wine list, I hope you’ll think about its workers, its 59,000 acres of vines, and all the coastally influenced wines they yield—wines of, to borrow Katz’s words, tremendous sophistication and luxury that pair brilliantly with an array of cuisines.
Head over to Decanter.com to read my reviews of Katz’s Surveyor Wines.
