Issue link: http://pefpages.uberflip.com/i/775329
Heidi Barrett, Guest of Honor, Winemaker Heidi Barrett grew up in the Napa Valley in a winemaking family and was destined to become one of California's leading winemakers. Through high school, she spent her summers working in wineries and vineyards, taking on all jobs from sorting vine cuttings to bottling line work. She then continued her winemaking education at UC Davis. While at Davis she was an assistant to Dr. Ann Noble, the developer of the aroma wheel. Heidi also did an internship at a large co-op winery in southern Germany, which produced many varieties of both white and red wines. There she learned the art of making balanced wines, no matter what the variety. Heidi became assistant winemaker to Jerry Luper at Bouchaine Vineyards. In 1983, at the age of 25, she became wine- maker at Buehler Vineyards. It was here that she first attracted critical acclaim by greatly improving the wine quality and taking the production from 6,000 cases to 20,000 cases. In 1988, she left Buehler to become an independent winemaker and started making wine for a number of small wineries. She became the winemaker at Dalla Valle Vineyards and created the famous "Maya" cult wine, a proprietary Cabernet blend that received two perfect 100 point scores from Robert Parker. She started making wine for Screaming Eagle in 1992, which has also received two perfect 100 point scores. A 6-liter bottle of '92 Screaming Eagle set a world record for the highest price ever paid for a single bottle of wine at the 2000 Napa Valley Wine Auction, selling for $500,000. Today, Heidi maintains a stable of ultra-premium client win- eries, including Paradigm, Lamborn, Amuse Bouche, Au Sommet, Fantesca, and Kenzo, as well as her own brands La Sirena and Barrett & Barrett, a collaboration brand with her husband Bo Barrett of Chateau Montelena.