In the few short years since we unveiled the debut wines from our Nightwing Estate Vineyard in the Petaluma Gap AVA, Nightwing has rapidly emerged as one of California’s most acclaimed and exciting young Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards. Earning across-the-board rave reviews from critics and numerous mid-90-point scores, it has exceeded all expectations and validated our belief in the remarkable quality of the site and its potential to become one of California’s greatest cool-climate vineyards.

Wind to Wine in the Petaluma Gap

Understanding why Nightwing Vineyard is so extraordinary begins by understanding the Petaluma Gap appellation (AVA), which only earned official AVA status in 2017. While the AVA may be new, among winemakers who focus on cool-climate grapes it has long been viewed as one of California’s top regions for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It is also a region that our Winemaker Heidi Bridenhagen has worked with for many years and is so passionate about that she currently serves as President on the Board of Directors of the Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance. The slogan for the AVA is “Wind to Wine,” and for good reason. The Petaluma Gap benefits from a wind gap in the coastal mountain range that funnels cooling breezes and fog east from the Pacific Ocean through Petaluma and south to San Pablo Bay. These persistent afternoon breezes result in lower yields and generous hangtimes, enabling flavors and fruit characteristics to fully develop, while creating beautifully balanced wines of uncommon depth and distinction. Though the AVA spans more than 200,000 acres, only about 4,000 are planted to vines spread across more than 70 vineyards.

Nightwing Takes Flight

In 2017, when Heidi and our founder, Steve MacRostie, first saw the unplanted land that would become Nightwing Vineyard, they both immediately recognized the site’s incredible untapped potential. “Great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay land in California is becoming more and more rare and Nightwing is Pinot and Chardonnay nirvana,” said Heidi, who personally selected Nightwing’s nine clones of Pinot Noir, nine clones of Chardonnay, and seven rootstocks. In partnership with Atlas Vineyard Management, which farms the nearby Gap’s Crown and Sunchase vineyards, Heidi oversaw the design and planting of Nightwing, which features numerous elevations, exposures and soil compositions. To take full advantage of this diversity, the vineyard was planted as a mosaic of 35 blocks featuring 44 acres of Pinot Noir and 30 acres of Chardonnay, with planted elevations reaching heights of 1,400 feet. “When we planted Nightwing, we leaned into the site’s natural diversity by planting multiple block and clone combinations,” said Heidi. “Today, several of those small blocks are the source for some of our most sought-after wines, including Nightwing Calera Clone Pinot Noir, Swan Clone Pinot Noir, and our Nightwing First Flight Pinot Noir.

About the Name Nightwing

We called the vineyard Nightwing in honor of Vernon Morelli, the property’s original owner and a WWII pilot who built a landing strip on the site. We also selected the name as a nod to the Petaluma Gap’s many indigenous birds. There are over 200 species of birds native to the Sonoma region, and some migrate in huge flocks at night. While we serve as caretakers of the vineyard by day, the name Nightwing acknowledges the many birds who watch over the land after dark, including the majestic Night Heron.

Experiencing Nightwing

Since we only occasionally host events at Nightwing, we unveiled a special experience last year to spotlight the vineyard and to help our customers forge a deeper connection with this exciting site and its wines. Focused exclusively on 90+ point wines from Nightwing, our 2-hour Nightwing Food & Wine Experience is a must for anyone who loves great food and wine pairings. The experience includes a flight of acclaimed current releases paired with caviar, local artisan cheeses and cured meats, as well as barrel samples of yet-to-be-released vintages from Nightwing. During the tasting, which features a delicious array of single-vineyard and single-clone bottlings, our Wine Ambassadors share stories about Nightwing, its history and what makes it such an extraordinary source for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

“Great vineyards are like great wineries,” added Heidi. “When properly stewarded, they evolve, mature and get better and better with age. Nightwing is on an extraordinary trajectory with the potential to become one of Sonoma’s grand cru-caliber vineyards.”