Back in 2014, after almost 30 years of crafting Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the finest vineyards in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast AVAs, we did something that we had never done before. After considering every vineyard we partner with and our own estate fruit, we evaluated every barrel in our cellar with the goal of creating two majestic Tête de Cuvées (“chief of blends” in French), one of Pinot Noir and the other of Chardonnay. “Our goal was simple, but not at all easy,” says Winemaker Heidi Bridenhagen. “We searched our cellar for our most beautiful wines of the vintage—stirring wines that sing on the palate. Then we began blending.”

We named these wines The Loch and The Key, both as a nod to our founder Steve MacRostie’s Scottish heritage and to his early experiences as a cryptographer deciphering codes in Europe for the U.S. Army. Combining three decades of winemaking mastery, with our rich history on the Sonoma Coast, our debut vintages of The Loch and The Key were wildly successful. They quickly became the most coveted wines we produce—and for good reason. Crafted by Heidi and her team from our best blocks and barrels of wine, The Loch and The Key are our consummate blends and the pinnacle of our portfolio. Like a secret code unlocked by our winemakers, they embody everything that we have learned about making great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

While a great single-vineyard wine embodies the character of a specific winegrowing site that has something special and authentic to say, The Loch and The Key draw on our entire winegrowing program, allowing Heidi to select the finest elements from the many famed vineyards we work with. To offer a metaphor, our single-vineyard wines are like beautiful soloists, whereas Heidi approaches The Loch and The Key like a symphony, harmoniously weaving together the most profound wines from our cellar to create something extraordinary, and greater than the sum of its parts.

From the far Sonoma Coast to the Russian River Valley to Carneros, The Loch and The Key also reflect our commitment to Sonoma Coast winegrowing, where we first made our name as a winery doing unique and special things with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. As true pinnacle wines, both The Loch and the Key are made to evolve with age, revealing new character, nuance, and dimension over time. Crafting The Loch and the Key is challenging, but also incredibly rewarding, and the resulting wines are always beautifully complete and compelling. Because they are so limited in nature, The Loch and the Key are always made available to our wine club members first. Thank you for adding these wines to your collection, and for welcoming them into your home. After a decade of vintages, The Loch and the Key have become an important part of the MacRostie story, telling the tale of our exploration of the greatest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards in California, and the commitment to artistry and innovation that has defined MacRostie since 1987.