When Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were married, winemaker Jesse Katz was commissioned to craft personalised wedding wines. The wine, Blue Ocean Floor, was named after a song Timberlake wrote for Biel.
He did the same for his close childhood friend, Jessica’s brother Justin Biel and his wife, Rose.
Prophet & Poet is a continuation of those collaborations. ‘We have really enjoyed working together, the learning and collaboration,’ said Katz. The brand is aimed at collectors and serious wine drinkers and priced commensurately. (The Chardonnays are priced at $600 per 3-pack, and the Cabernet at $1650.)
Katz, known for producing Bordeaux varieties in Sonoma, is bullish on raising the region’s profile when it comes to collectable wines.
In addition to the partnership with the Biels, the Jackson Family‘s owner, Chris, and his wife, Ariel, are contributing their expertise and vineyards to the project.
A prophet and a poet
The wine brand is named for Biel’s brother and his wife. Rose Biel is a shamanically trained energy healer – the prophet, while Justin Biel – the writer, is the brand’s poet. Rose explained that each wine comes with a ‘wisdom poem’. Rose explained that this comes from meditation on a particular topic or challenge one might face.
The inaugural 2021 vintage release includes five wines: two single-vineyard Chardonnays, King Bird and Ghost Cat, and three red wines. The two red blends are Mountain Sage and Mourning Cloak, and the Cabernet Sauvignon is called Black Crown. The wines are sold in three packs, which come in boxes evocative of old leather-bound books.
The wine packaging, both the labels and the three-pack boxes, lean heavily into the esoteric with fantastic imagery and tarot-like cards on the back of each label.
Rose Biel in the Upper Barn Vineyard. Credit: Clive Pursehouse
The vineyards
The Broken Road vineyard is unique, explains Chris Jackson. The vineyard sits at 550m (1,800ft), right in the top layers of the coastal fog that floods the valley each evening.
‘The vineyard is planted to an unidentified clone of Chardonnay. We’ve had it tested, but they couldn’t find a match at (UC) Davis,’ Jackson said. ‘So we thought we had a unique opportunity to make something different with the wines from here, and in this project, with this wine, we can lean into the unique character of this fruit and site.’
In addition to the Broken Road Chardonnay, a second Chardonnay comes from Upper Barn, a site that has long been the top-tier single-vineyard bottling for Jackson Family’s Stonestreet label. ‘The soil content of Upper Barn is unique and rocky,’ Jackson explained. ‘There’s blue schist, which we know from Mosel, and the Duoro, and I think Jesse did a great job of capturing that minerality, there’s a throughline of that in the wines.’
Along with the two single-vineyard Chardonnays, the top wine, the Cabernet Sauvignon, is partly sourced from Christopher’s Vineyard, the highest site on the Jackson-owned estate, along with fruit from Knight’s Valley in Sonoma.
‘Up here we’re in a very windy environment,’ Jackson said. ‘As you probably noticed, one that’s very influenced by the proximity to the coast. We believe that the elevation, the soils and the different vineyard aspects can make some of Sonoma and the country’s best wines.’
Chris Jackson, Jesse Katz, Rose Biel, Jessica Biel and Ariel Jackson. Credit: Clive Pursehouse
The winemaking
‘We want to showcase the amazing sites like Upper Barn and Broken Road, but we also want these wines to be reflective and really be the top wines of the vintage coming from the region,’ said winemaker Jesse Katz.
‘While I’m used to driving the charge of all the viticultural elements for my own brands (Aperture and Devil Proof), working with Chris and collaborating with him on this has really been really fascinating, finding these unique pockets together, that maybe on my own I may have overlooked,’ he added.
The blending and final winemaking involve collaboration, and all the partners participate by tasting and selecting different lots. The wines are produced at Katz’s Aperture Cellars.
‘I love wine,’ said Biel. ‘And we feel very fortunate to be able to get involved in it at such a high level for our brand, thanks to Jesse, Chris and Ariel.’
‘We’re trying to elevate Sonoma County,’ said Jackson. ‘And this is our time, we believe, with Prophet & Poet, to take that conversation to the next level.’
