Healdsburg’s Jesse Katz named 2025 Winemaker of the Year by Wine Enthusiast.
 
99-Points by Audrey Frick (JebDunnuck.com)
Meaning "top of the hillside" in Spanish, the Inky purple-colored 2021 Cima Ladera Farrow Ranch is mostly Malbec with the addition of 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and sees 90% new French oak. The first vintage they made of this wine, the Cabernet really pops through in its profile, with a nose of fresh plums, redcurrants, lavender, and a mineral lift of pencil lead jumping from the glass. Full-bodied, it as a mountainous feel to its structure, with plenty of ripe tannins and a balanced, even freshness underneath. This is a great addition to the range that’s going to appeal to lovers of great Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
98-Points by Erin Brooks, Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate - December 2023
It has ringing scents of maraschino cherries and blueberries with accents of bitter chocolate, spearmint, vanilla, lilac and aniseed, offering up new nuances with each return to the glass. The full-bodied palate is lovely! It balances tremendously concentrated flavors with bright acidity and velvety tannins, and it has a very long finish with a fan of spicy accents.
Blend: 65% Malbec, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
Winery Notes
There’s an old saying that goes: “Live well, drink well, the devil can’t get ya. And if the devil can’t get you, you’re devil proof.” In the context of grape growing, a Devil Proof wine is an elixir of life, born of the fruit from vines that live and drink well and keep you safe from the devil—however you interpret that. During the harvests Jesse Katz spent in Argentina at Bodega Noemia and Viña Cobos, he sat at the table with the best makers of Malbec and Malbec blends in the world—tasting the finest examples the variety has been known to produce. Over the years, his passion for this varietal only intensified, and he dreamed of pushing the limits of what the grape could achieve in California soils under the California sun. Only when Jesse discovered a plot of unique Malbec vines rooted in the rocky volcanic soils of Farrow Ranch in the Alexander Valley did he become convinced that crafting a world-class Malbec in America was possible. The vineyard-designated wines produced for the Devil Proof labels offer interpretations as singular expressions of each site—of grapes grown within the ecosystems of those vineyards. That saying—the name of one of Andy Katz’s most acclaimed photos from their Cuba jaunt—now graces the front label of all Devil Proof wines.
 
The Aperture Chenin Blanc has earned the highest Wine Enthusiast rating for the varietal in the history of California. Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2024, #71.
In 2021, his work with Devil Proof's Farrow Ranch vineyard led him to joining the elite group of winemakers, receiving 100 points from both Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate and Jeb Dunnuck.
 
Jesse Katz is a winemaking sensation renowned for becoming the youngest head winemaker at Lancaster Estate in the U.S. in 2010. Jesse’s journey from prodigy to powerhouse includes garnering nearly a dozen perfect scores and setting a world record with a million-dollar auction bid for his “The Setting 2019 Glass Slipper Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon” at the 2021 Emeril Lagasse Foundation’s Carnivale Du Vin auction in New Orleans.
Jesse Katz developed a passion for wine at an early age, sparked by globetrotting with his father, renowned photographer Andy Katz, to explore wineries and vineyards around the world.
Jesse honed his craft after earning a degree in Viticulture and Enology from Fresno State. He gained invaluable experience at some of the world’s premier wineries, including Pétrus in Bordeaux, Screaming Eagle and Robert Foley Wineries in Napa Valley, and Viña Cobos (Paul Hobbs) and Bodega Noemia in Argentina.
Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 Tastemaker, Wine Spectator Rising Star, and was the first winemaker to land on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. He made wine for the Timberlake-Biel wedding, and shattered records when a six-liter bottle of his 2019 Cabernet sold at an auction for a million dollars.
Aperture Cellars is a small-batch wine producer in Healdsburg of Sonoma County, California. It was founded by winemaker Jesse Katz in 2009. 
The Bordeaux-style wine portfolio is sourced from various subregions of Sonoma. The Site Series is a collection of terroir-driven wines from different vineyards throughout Alexander Valley. The soil series includes Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon wines crafted according to the soil type. The top range is a duo of red blends produced from the estate vineyard in Healdsburg. 
Wine labels feature imagery by Katz's photographer father, Andy Katz, Aperture Cellars is derived from the aperture of a camera lens.