Month: December 2023

Dear Friends,

Festive greetings from the Russian River Valley! With another year drawing to a close and the holidays approaching, there is so much that we are grateful for here at MacRostie—most especially our amazing community of club members. One of the great delights of 2023 was the fact that we were able to resume our full slate of events. We love hosting events! There really is no better way to share our passion for wine with our members, which is why we were thrilled to hold our second annual Nightwing Estate Summer Party in August, where over 200 guests experienced the beauty of our new estate vineyard while celebrating the finest in Sonoma County food and wine.

And because not all of our members can regularly make it to wine country, we took MacRostie on the Road again in 2023, hosting unforgettable events in Tampa, Houston, Austin, Washington D.C., New York, and Dallas. We participated in more than 45 events in 2023, where we connected with many old friends and made countless new ones.

This past year also marked Heidi Bridenhagen’s 10^th anniversary as our winemaker. What Heidi and her team have accomplished over the past decade is extraordinary. In addition to garnering more than 475 scores of 90 points or higher during her tenure, in 2023 Heidi earned double honors from the North Bay Business Journal, which named her one of its “Forty Under 40 for 2023,” and presented her with the “Winemaking Excellence Award” at the Women in Wine Awards. With a female winemaker, assistant winemaker, and grower relations manager here at MacRostie, we are proud to be a Women-Led Winery helping to chart a path toward greater equity and representation in the wine industry.

Under Heidi’s dynamic leadership, 2023 saw us unveil a host of fantastic new wines, from our inaugural Nightwing Vineyard Pinot Noir to our debut Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs sparkling wines to our first-ever Clockwise Zinfandel from the famed Monte Rosso Vineyard. This spirit of exploration and winemaking artistry will continue in the coming year, with the scheduled release of several fantastic new wines, including our first Nightwing Vineyard Late Harvest Chardonnay dessert wine, a single-vineyard Bennett Valley Syrah from Clockwise, and our debut Pinot Noir from the iconic Fiddlestix Vineyard in Santa Barbara County’s renowned Santa Rita Hills AVA.

From all of us here at MacRostie, thank you for your support. Your patronage and passion for our wines is a constant source of inspiration. May your holidays be filled with joyful gatherings and unforgettable wines!

Warmest wishes,

The MacRostie Team

Heidi Bridenhagen, Winemaker

In 2011, when I joined MacRostie, we had less than 10 employees and no Estate House. Back then, Steve and Thale MacRostie would host our team at their home for an annual pre-harvest celebration, where meals always started with a glass of sparkling wine on their patio followed by an intimate seated tasting, and you definitely couldn’t leave without a tour of Thale’s beautiful garden! When we visited, Steve and Thale made us feel like members of their family or dear friends visiting from far away.

A few years later, with renowned wine country architect Douglas Thornley set to design our MacRostie Estate House near the charming town of Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley, we wanted to emulate what Steve and Thale did so flawlessly. This included greeting guests with a glass of wine and providing beautiful spaces for people to relax and enjoy each others company.

This month marks ten years since we unveiled our stunning Estate House. I remember the excitement when we broke ground, the pride that we all felt when we welcomed our first guests, and countless wonderful memories from events over the years. The response to our Estate House has been amazing, both from customers who have made it their wine country home away from home, and from the press, with the Estate House being hailed as one of “The Ten Most Beautiful Wineries in California” by Condé Nast Traveler, the “Best Tasting Room in Napa and Sonoma” by San Francisco Magazine, one of the “Best Winery Patios in Sonoma & Napa” by Sonoma Magazine, and one of The Press Democrat’s “Go-To Sonoma County Spots to Take Out-of-Town Guests.”

The Estate House changed everything for MacRostie. It gave us our Thale’s Estate Vineyard and a new small-lot winery exclusively for Pinot Noir. Most importantly, it gave us a home that we could share with our growing community of customers, club members and other friends. Guided by the gracious approach to hospitality we learned from Steve and Thale, and by the vision of architect Douglas Thornley, the Estate House made MacRostie more than a name on a label; it made us a place where wine lovers can explore our wines and share their passion with like-minded wine enthusiasts.

Douglas Thornley, Estate House Architect and Wine Club Member

When we set out to build the MacRostie Estate House over a decade ago, we sought out the talents of award-winning architect Douglas Thornley. Not only is Douglas one of wine country’s most sought-after architects and the creative force behind such spectacular wineries as Cuvaison, Hamel, Baldacci, and Paraduxx, he is a longtime MacRostie club member, so we knew we were in great hands!

When Douglas, who is currently a principal at Goring & Straja Architects, was designing the Estate House, one of his goals was to give Steve MacRostie the winery home he’d always wanted. “I took the idea of creating a ‘home’ for Steve and MacRostie literally and found inspiration in the region’s agrarian residences with gable forms and wood finishes. I also worked to create a destination with multiple indoor and outdoor spaces for visitors to enjoy.”

For the interior, this includes exposed Douglas fir rafters and a beautifully rendered wall of cathedral-like cabinetry, 10-foot-high glass windows overlooking the arrival plaza, and collapsing Schweiss doors that fold up and in, providing a canopy framing the Estate House’s showplace Barrel Hall. Outside, the Estate House offers three patios: a covered terrace overlooking the Russian River with sweeping views of Mount St. Helena, a balcony terrace looking towards Thale’s Vineyard, and a private terrace off the sophisticated VIP room. The property also includes custom water features, a paved terrace with curved seating walls, and a hidden gravel terrace with custom multi-sided wood-bench seating under a beautiful old oak within the vineyard.

For Douglas, three factors make a successful winery. “A successful winery is a three-legged stool. It offers great wines, great staff, and a memorable space that people want to return to again and again. MacRostie does all three.” Looking back on his design a decade later, Douglas is particularly happy with the way the Estate House blurs the lines between the indoors and outdoors, especially the courtyard with its view into the barrel room. “The goal was to create a fluid relationship between the inside and outside. In places, this includes using tumbled American stone flooring materials both indoors and out, and interior walls clad with exterior materials to blur the lines between the two, with the goal of creating a bright and modern sense of space.”

Douglas fondly remembers the opening of the Estate House. “It takes a team to create something special like the Estate House, and I will always remember the big unveiling party they had for the staff and design team. It was a magical moment.” As a club member for over a decade, Douglas loves to come to the Estate House to watch guests interact with the space. He also has his own favorite spots. “When I visit, I particularly love the north porch. It’s my favorite place and has my favorite couch. It’s also the hotspot of the Estate House, where I can watch everything that I helped create come to life.”

A decade after its opening, we continue to find new ways to showcase the beauty of Douglas’s design. From unique wine events like our upcoming Spring Soirée to our wildly popular Sunset Series, where guests savor the stunning vineyard views as they enjoy different pop-up chefs and live musicians, the Estate House is an idyllic spot to savor, celebrate, and unwind. With tasting options like our new Nightwing Experience, which features a flight of 90+ point, limited-production Nightwing wines paired with caviar and local artisan cheeses and charcuterie, it is also the perfect place to foster a deeper connection with MacRostie and our wines.

For those who love wine and food events, or are planning a wine tasting trip to explore the best of Healdsburg or Sonoma County, our tasting room offers an unforgettable all-season destination. We hope to see you soon!