The Inaugural Vintage of Aperture’s Flagship Red Finishes First, Placing Sonoma County Among the World’s Great Regions for Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-Style Wines
October 7, 2026 (Healdsburg, CA) — Aperture Cellars, the acclaimed Sonoma County winery founded by first-generation winemaker Jesse Katz, is proud to announce that its 2021 Collage Proprietary Red has been named the winner of the red wine category at the 2026 Judgment of Napa, becoming the first Sonoma County wine to finish first in the event’s history.
Created and produced by Cultured Vine and its founder, Angela Duerr, and held October 5 at the historic Freemark Abbey in Napa Valley, this year’s Judgment of Napa commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the landmark blind tasting that forever changed the global perception of California wine. It took place on what would have been the 85th birthday of Steven Spurrier, the British wine merchant who organized the original Paris tasting.
For the first time on American soil, Cultured Vine brought together the people whose presence, photographs and words immortalized the 1976 tasting: Patricia Gastaud-Gallagher, Spurrier’s American business partner, who conceived the original tasting; Bella Spurrier, Steven’s wife, who spoke about that day and the photographs she took of it; and the family of George Taber, the Time magazine reporter whose account carried the result to the world.
Aperture’s win carries particular resonance given the history the Judgment of Napa was created to honor. On May 24, 1976, Spurrier and Gastaud-Gallagher organized a blind tasting in Paris that placed California Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon alongside acclaimed French wines. In an outcome that stunned the wine establishment, California wines finished first in both categories, establishing the state as a serious force on the international wine stage. Fifty years on, Cultured Vine’s Judgment of Napa restaged that test in California, this time with a Sonoma County wine finishing first.
The tasting brought together 20 prestigious wines from around the world, 10 whites and 10 reds, spanning Burgundy, Bordeaux, California, and beyond. All were tasted blind, so that terroir and craftsmanship, rather than reputation, would determine the outcome, mirroring the rigor of the 1976 tasting. The wines were selected by Master of Wine Peter Marks and Master Sommelier Peter Granoff.
Katz was invited to take part in the historic event as a judge alongside leading winemakers, including Philippe Melka, Michael Silacci, Chris Carpenter, Tor Kenward, Aaron Pott and
Angelina Mondavi, who were joined by wine critics Jancis Robinson MW and Jonathan Cristaldi of Decanter, Andrea Immer Robinson MS, Vanessa Conlin MW and Liz Thach MW. Separately, Aperture was invited to submit a wine for the blind tasting and chose its 2021 Collage Proprietary Red, the inaugural red of the most ambitious wine collection in Aperture’s history. Because Katz and Tor Kenward each ended up having a wine in the competition, their scores were excluded from the final tally.
“I’ve been saying for years that the best sites in Sonoma County belong in the conversation for the finest Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style wines in the world, and this win proves what we have believed all along. That it happened blind, alongside benchmark wines from the most famous estates and châteaux in the world’s greatest wine regions, makes it incredibly meaningful. I grew up enamored with the First Growths of Bordeaux and the great Napa Cabernets. When I started Aperture, while still working at Screaming Eagle, I dreamed of bringing Sonoma County’s great terroir for Bordeaux varieties into that same spotlight. To see our wine tasted blind alongside First Growths, Screaming Eagle and the world’s best, by some of the world’s finest palates, fills me with pride. Aperture’s Collage was created to capture the very best of what Sonoma County is capable of: its diversity, precision, depth and ability to produce wines that stand among the world’s best. I’m grateful to Angela Duerr and the Cultured Vine team for building a stage worthy of the tasting it honors. This is an incredible honor for our entire team and for Sonoma County,” — Jesse Katz, Founder and Winemaker, Aperture Cellars.
The red wines, in order of finish:
- 2021 Aperture Collage Proprietary Red, Sonoma County, USA
- 2022 Château Léoville Las Cases, Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France
- 2023 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, USA
- 2023 Tenuta San Guido “Sassicaia”, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tuscany, Italy
- 2022 Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France
- 2021 Dominus, Yountville, Napa Valley, USA
- 2022 Viña VIK “VIK”, Millahue, Cachapoal Valley, Chile
- 2023 TOR Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley,
- 2023 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
- 2022 Château Montrose, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France
First released in 2025, the 2021 Collage Proprietary Red is the inaugural vintage of Aperture’s most ambitious and artistically driven wine collection to date. The concept behind Collage is rooted in layering. Like a work of art assembled from distinct elements, Aperture draws on an extensive palette of vineyard sites and individual lots, then selects only those he believes represent the highest expression of a given vintage.
Collage is the natural evolution of Aperture’s winemaking journey and the culmination of more than a decade of precision farming, experimentation and creative vision, built around the complexity and diversity of Sonoma County terroir. The collection comprises two wines, a Proprietary Red and a Proprietary White, and reflects 16 years of harvests, more than 200 acres of vineyards and five distinct appellations, including estate vines planted as far back as 1912.
After decades of studying the terroir of the world’s top sites, Aperture’s team found that the growing season at the Aperture Estate, measured in growing degree days (GDD), closely matches that of Oakville in the 1970s. As growing seasons around the world have become consistently shorter, warmer and drier, Katz says, these cooler sites give the wines a different expression.
For the 2021 red, Aperture employed an extended élevage intended to build complexity, integration and longevity. The wine was aged for 24 months in barrel, followed by six months in custom concrete vessels and an additional year in bottle before release. It debuted at $425 per bottle, establishing Collage as the pinnacle of Aperture’s portfolio. The wine has earned three perfect scores: 100 points from International Wine Report, 100 points from JebDunnuck.com and 100 points from Owen Bargreen.
The win marks a defining moment for Collage and positions Aperture among the world’s leading wineries, while further elevating Sonoma County’s standing on the global wine stage.
About Aperture Cellars
Founded in 2009 by first-generation winemaker Jesse Katz, Aperture Cellars is dedicated to producing world-class Bordeaux-style wines that capture the diversity and potential of Sonoma County. Working with more than 200 vineyard acres across the region, including its Healdsburg Estate in the Russian River Valley and Farrow Ranch in Alexander Valley, Aperture pairs precision farming and innovative winemaking with a distinct artistic point of view. Inspired by Jesse’s father, celebrated photographer Andy Katz, art has always been in the winery’s DNA and has shaped its visual identity. Its Healdsburg Estate is home to an architecturally stunning 24,000-square-foot state-of-the-art winery and a 4,000-square-foot hospitality space and art gallery, conceived as a destination for both vinous and creative expression. Today, Aperture is among California’s most acclaimed wineries, with Katz named Wine Enthusiast’s 2025 Winemaker of the Year and Aperture ranked No. 14 on the 2025 World’s 50 Best Vineyards list. Aperture’s wines have also earned historic critical recognition, including the first perfect score ever awarded to an Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Learn more at aperture-cellars.com
