In 2013, when Steve MacRostie chose then-29-year-old Heidi Bridenhagen to take on the winemaking reins at MacRostie, he believed that her inquisitiveness, innovative spirit, and winemaking artistry would help to take MacRostie to a new level. He was right. In the decade since, Heidi has established herself as one of California’s star winemakers with a gift for crafting elegantly vibrant and expressive wines that capture the character and complexity of the regions and vineyards they come from. While Heidi’s skillful winemaking has resulted in some of the most acclaimed wines in our long history, her focus on expanding our winegrowing program to include many of California’s greatest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards has been equally key to MacRostie’s success.

Today, Heidi works with more than 25 Chardonnay vineyards and 20 Pinot Noir sites, including numerous vineyard-designate-caliber sites farmed by renowned winegrowing families like the Duttons, Sangiacomos, Martinellis, and Bacigalupis, as well as our own acclaimed Nightwing and Thale’s estate vineyards. The diversity has played a key role in establishing our Sonoma Coast Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as benchmarks of excellence for appellation-designated Sonoma Coast wines.

While many wineries make their appellation-designated wines from a few large vineyards, Heidi takes a very different approach. “The Sonoma Coast is a big appellation, but within it, there are numerous small regions that produce extraordinary Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, including Carneros, the Petaluma Gap where we established our Nightwing Estate Vineyard, the Russian River Valley, the cool Green Valley sub-AVA, as well as vineyards on the Far Sonoma Coast. By working with a who’s who of single-vineyard-quality sites throughout the entire region, our Sonoma Coast wines showcase the best of the appellation.”   

This is certainly true for our 2022 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, which recently earned 93 points from both Wine Enthusiast and The Tasting Panel. To craft this wine, Heidi blended grapes from the Sangiacomo and Ricci vineyards in Carneros, and sites farmed by the Dutton and Martinelli families in the Russian River Valley. The Carneros fruit gives the wine its intense notes of lemon and citrus, adding to its rich mouthfeel, while the Russian River grapes provide a unique combination of acid-driven tension, green apple layers, and hints of tropical fruit.

For the 2022 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which scored 91 points from both Wine Enthusiast and The Tasting Panel, Heidi focused on her favorite sub-AVAs for Pinot within the greater Sonoma Coast, notably the Russian River Valley, Carneros, and the Petaluma Gap. From the earth and spice notes of Carneros to the lush fruit of the Russian River Valley to the power and complexity of the Petaluma Gap, each vineyard and region brings something distinctive and compelling to the final wine.

“Our Sonoma Coast bottlings are our calling card. Because they are the wines that introduce many people to MacRostie, we are always striving for that perfect union of complexity, balance, and approachability, and that ability to provide everyday luxury to our customers.”