Smith: Wine star Jesse Katz blending up something unique

Rising star winemaker Jesse Katz of Lancaster Estate in Alexander Valley will use cabernet sauvignon juice donated by six fine wineries to make what could be an ah-inspiring blend.

And Katz is doing it out of caring. Sales of the wine will benefit Becoming Independent, the innovative non-profit that helps people with disabilities to find rewarding employment or to create art and get it to collectors.

Adorning the label of BI Blend will be a vineyard-and-hills landscape by Ali Koehler, a client of Becoming Independent who painted the piece while participating in the Chalk Hill Artist Residency program.

The idea to create a single barrel of a custom cab blend for Becoming Independent came from Katz and Matt Welty, a Healdsburg attorney and BI board member well connected to the Sonoma wine community. The juice, all from cab grapes grown and pressed in 2013, will come from Ramey Wine Cellars, Mauritson Family Winery, Lancaster Estate, Goldschmidt Vineyards, Stuhlmuller Vineyards and Roth Estate.

Futures of the wine will be sold at Becoming Independent’s primary fundraising gala, the Vegas-themed Dinner Under the Stars on April 25 at Vintner’s Inn.

Magnums of the charitable wine ($175) and double magnums ($300) also can be purchased through www.biblend.org. Buyers will be invited to the pick-up party, the date of which has yet to be determined.

Katz will bottle the BI Blend this fall.