Heidi Barrett - Napa Valley - Artful wines by winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett
We had the honor of a visit from THE Jane Seymour this week! She helped us out on the sorting table while we were crushing our Petite Sirah at Joseph Cellars Winery (our new custom crush facility). Truly a pleasure to welcome this beautiful, kind and gracious woman who happens to be a Hollywood icon! Thank you Jane!! 
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Harvest season is here again and we’re working hard to produce another round of your favorite La Sirena wines. Our first day was August 23, crushing Primitivo for our La Sirena Rosato. So far we have brought in the grapes for the Moscato Azul, Rosato, and the first few red varietals (Primitivo and Grenache likely to become Aviatrix, as well as Petite Sirah for Pirate.) Follow us on social media to get more updates throughout the harvest season!
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The events of the past 2 weeks have been life-changing and unforgettable for our entire region. But we are still here, and more grateful than ever to live in such a beautiful place, with such a strong community, and work in such an amazing industry.
Like many others here, we are finishing up harvest and trying to return to “normal”. We have been incredibly fortunate in that nearly all of our harvest was completed before the fires, the wines safely in tanks and caves away from smoke, and in spite of everything, we expect some extraordinary wines from the 2017 vintage.
We are so touched by the generosity and kindness of friends & supporters from around the world. Many have been asking us how to help. Well, one of the best ways you can help the Valley is to DRINK NAPA VALLEY WINE! It is vital for the industry and the region to keep our businesses running as we recover from this ordeal.
There are some wonderful funds and organizations working to help the region as well. The Napa Valley Disaster Relief Fund & the Redwood Credit Union Fire Relief Fund are two we would recommend highly that are distributing funds to those in need.
Your support means so much to us, now more than ever. Wishing you all the best.
Heidi Peterson Barrett was featured in the independent documentary Decanted: A Winemaker’s Journey, which premiered at the Napa Valley Film Festival in November. The film features beautiful cinematography of the wine country and industry as well as stories and experiences from many top winemakers, including Steve Reynolds, Julien Fayard, Anthony Bell, Aaron Pott, Philippe Melka and Mike Martin.
Decanted will be coming to festivals and theaters this spring, with a digital release date of February 21st on iTunes and Amazon. There will also be preorders for DVD and Blu Rays available now and will ship out around March 1st.
Follow our Facebook and Twitter for further news, events, and updates about Decanted, as well as the film’s website and Facebook.
Harvest 2016 in Napa Valley has concluded, and what a wonderful year it was. Always an exciting time in the Valley with a lot of bustling activity. It was a great harvest season for La Sirena with some very delicious fruit coming in. A lot of much-needed rain this past winter helped to alleviate some of the effects of the drought (though we continue to hope for another rainy winter this year of course!) The weather was ideal and very warm all through the spring and summer, with cool nights. We’re so fortunate to have this fantastic Napa Valley weather that creates near-perfect grape growing conditions, so we can make excellent wines consistently every year.
Winemaker Heidi Barrett with grapes for the La Sirena Napa Valley harvest 2016
La Sirena Grenache grapes & Cabernet Sauvignon bins
Congratulations to all in the industry who completed another fantastic harvest season making the wonderful wines that Napa Valley is famous for! Looking forward to sharing the fruits of our labor in the years to come.
2016 La Sirena Cabernet Sauvignon Grapes
Another crush season is already upon us – Harvest 2016 is underway and shaping up to be a great year.
Heidi’s thoughts: So far, 2016’s weather seems to be a return to a “normal” year for Napa Valley, meaning warm days, cool nights, and a few hot spells this summer. A few early blocks have come in, but most are tracking normal. Since 2011, the weather has trended extremely hot, and when combined with the drought, 2012-2015 vintages produced big, concentrated wines with very early picking dates. 2015 saw extremely low yields due to the drought. Heavy rains this past winter helped fill all the lakes and reservoirs and deliver some much-needed moisture to the vines’ roots, so 2016’s growing season was a return to what I would call normal for the region (picking beginning in early September), and hopefully a return to normal yields as well. Ripeness and flavor development seem to be at lower sugars this year, which will be nice for lower alcohol levels in the wines. So far we’ve brought in Muscat Canelli and a bit of Cabernet. We have some other exciting projects in the pipeline for the 2016 vintage we can’t wait to share with you.
Follow us on Facebook & Twitter to get Harvest updates all season long!