2021 Aperture Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Del Rio Vineyard Alexander Valley

Jesse Katz’s 2021 Aperture Cellars Del Rio Vineyard Cabernet sits at the pinnacle of California Cabernet. 

Jeb Dunnuck called it an “intense and complete wine with a mountainous feel,” and his 100pt score put it ALONE at the top of the Sonoma Cabernet vintage. The wine’s big-money brethren over in Napa Valley, names like Schrader and Realm, wines that go for $490 and more. This Cabernet, grown on a hillside location in the southeast corner of the Alexander Valley, shows why Jesse is a star. 

At barely 40 years old, Katz is hugely accomplished. He’s already made a wine that fetched a cool mil at auction and a Malbec that Robert Parker speculated “may be the finest I have ever tasted from California.” He’s also been named a Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 Tastemaker and a Wine Spectator Rising Star, and he was the first winemaker to land on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.

So what does a winemaker do after all that? Katz headed to Sonoma because the region is decades behind Napa in terms of site selection. That, he told us, presents an opportunity to make a mark by raising Cabernets like this one to unprecedented heights.

He was drawn to Alexander Valley for its red volcanic soils and distinctive climate, which features cold nights giving way to days that heat up like a Wolf range. Grown in chalky volcanic soils that keep yields tiny, this wine spends 22 months in 60-gallon oak barrels, 100% of them new. The result is Cabernet perfection, a wine that stands with the very best in California.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.70%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2040
• % Cabernet Sauvignon
• Serving temperature – 58°
• Cork