Aperture Estate Vineyard Photo by Andy Katz
ROOTED
Photographer Andy Katz and his son, winemaker Jesse Katz, embrace l'art de vivre through unique expressions of their craft. Written by Bridget Williams / Photos courtesy of Aperture Cellars "It's a keeper!" globetrotting photographer Andy Katz said he'd exclaim when he was confident he'd captured "the shot." During a recent conversation amid the Farrow Ranch vineyard in California's Alexander Valley in Sonoma County, he joked that the phrase also applies to the day his son Jesse was born. Well before Jesse marked his first trip around the sun, he accompanied his father on an assignment in Japan, the first of many adventures, which included a near-death experience with a charging rhino in Africa and quite a bit of time galivanting through some of the world's most famous vineyards. The latter imprinted upon young Jesse a fascination with wine and, more importantly, the soil that imparts "good juice" with its unique characteristics. As an eight-year-old, Andy recalls flipping through a book of black-and-white portraits by Yousuf Karsh and deciding at that moment that he wanted to be a photographer. In the 1960s, an early assignment sent him around the globe without a clear itinerary and per diem that today would barely cover your morning latte. Listening to Andy tell it, the adventure seems both intoxicating and wholly unfathomable in today's hyper-connected world. His skill as a raconteur is as evocative as his photography, an oeuvre encompassing
more than 14 coffee table books (a dozen of which are devoted to wine), record albums cover for the likes of the Doobie Brothers and Dan Fogelberg, and features in museums and galleries worldwide. In 2005, he became Sony's First Artisan of Imagery. "Beauty is everywhere; you just have to wait for the right light," said Andy. Similarly, Jesse recalls being laser-focused on becoming a winemaker, a fascination stretching back to an idyllic childhood sprinting through and occasionally sleeping amid vineyards in Europe and South America. Seeing a vineyard through his father's expertly focused lens and later being offered a taste of wine from the same site gifted him a unique ability to communicate terroir. After graduating from CSU-Fresno, Jesse worked in the cellar and vineyards at Bodega Noemia in Patagonia, Argentina, whose oldest malbec vines were planted in the 1930s. Their lowtech approach to the craft included destemming grapes by hand and stomping them à la I Love Lucy. Jesse went on to apprentice at Bordeaux's Pétrus and Napa's Screaming Eagle before becoming America's youngest head winemaker at 25 with Lancaster Estate and Roth Winery in Sonoma County, where he was given the opportunity to design a winery from the ground up. slmag.net
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