Month: October 2024

As the festive season draws near and the promise of a New Year beckons, all of us at MacRostie are eagerly looking forward to the holidays ahead. Like you, we will be joining with family and friends to share the joys of the season, preparing delectable feasts and uncorking special wines.

To help make your own holidays merry and bright, we’ve created a fantastic and festive assortment of the best holiday gift sets for 2024. Whether you’re looking for mixed Chardonnay and Pinot Noir gift sets, sparkling wine gifts, or the best wines to gift your team or your boss, we’re here to ensure that you have the perfect gift for everyone on your list.

To make gifting with us even more enticing, each gift set includes a MacRostie branded gift box, a complimentary Signature tasting for two (a $90 value!), a greeting card with a personalized message, and ground shipping included for each set. Whatever you’re looking for, we have the wine gift set for you and yours!

Crowning Achievement – The Loch & The Key Flagship Duo

• 2022 The Key Chardonnay
• 2022 The Loch Pinot Noir

If you are looking for the ultimate gift for wine lovers and collectors, look no further than our Crowning Achievement gift set featuring our coveted pinnacle wines—The Loch and The Key. Like all of the greatest wines, The Loch and The Key do more than delight the senses. They create moments that are as magical as they are memorable. This year, reward the wine lover in your life with these cellar-worthy treasures.

Celebrate and Sparkle – Sparkling Duo

• 2021 Blanc de Blancs
• 2021 Blanc de Noirs

Nearly 40% of all sparkling wines are enjoyed between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, and for good reason. Few things bring joy and good cheer like sparkling wine! Beautiful, ebullient, and expressive, our Celebrate & Sparkle Duo will help to bring that joyful, welcoming spirit bubbling forth at holiday celebrations. Ideal for friends, family, or corporate gifting, they’ll be thinking of you when the cork pops and the merriment begins.

Night Flight – Nightwing Vineyard Duo

• 2022 Nightwing Vineyard Chardonnay
• 2022 Nightwing Vineyard Pinot Noir

From the tantalizing layers of Honeycrisp apple, tropical fruit, gardenia, and sweet baking spices that define our Nightwing Chardonnay to the soaring blackberry, plum and exotic spice flavors of our Nightwing Pinot Noir, these food-friendly wines are perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner, or for any wine enthusiast who loves terroir-driven wines.

Mini but Mighty – Half-Bottle Six Pack

• Three Bottles – 2021 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 375 ml
• Three Bottles – 2021 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 375 ml

Always one of our most popular wine gift sets, not only do our Mighty Minis make the best stocking stuffers, but with half-bottles of these delicious wines on hand, you’ll also be ready for any holiday gift-giving occasion. Our delightful half bottles also make great gifts for frequent travelers and are perfect for those evenings when you don’t want to open a whole bottle.

Radiant Reds

Radiant Reds – Clockwise Duo

• 2022 Clockwise Monte Rosso Vineyard Zinfandel
• 2022 Clockwise Vivio Vineyard Syrah

Our Monte Rosso Zinfandel, grown on a historic 130-year-old vineyard, boasts rich, concentrated flavors of dark raspberry, black currant, and layers of baking spice. It perfectly complements our Vivio Vineyard Syrah, which grows in foggy Bennett Valley and yields elegant floral notes, powerful tannins, and lush blue and black fruit flavors. Bringing together two remarkable reds that epitomize the innovative spirit of Clockwise, this gift set will wow the red wine lovers in your life.

Gift Cards, Customizable Gift Sets, and Corporate Gifting

If you don’t know what kind of wines your giftee enjoys and can’t decide on a gift set, you can always send a MacRostie gift card. We offer both physical and digital gift cards in denominations of $50, $100, and $200 that can be redeemed at the MacRostie Estate House or online at MacRostiewinery.com.  We also offer customizable gift sets and concierge corporate gifting services. To learn more, or to speak with one of our group gifting concierges, email us at hospitality@macrostiewinery.com or give us a call at 707.473.9303.

On behalf of everyone at MacRostie, may the spirit of the season fill your home with grace, glad tidings, and extraordinary wines!

Holiday Gifting Shipping Deadlines:

Thanksgiving

• National Ground: Monday, November 18th
• CA Ground + 2-Day Air: Monday, November 25th

Christmas and Hanukkah

• National Ground: Monday, December 16th
• CA Ground + 2-Day Air: Wednesday, December 18th

New Years

• National Ground: Monday, December 23rd
• CA Ground + 2-Day Air: Thursday, December 26th

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!