Life has been most gracious to me in too many ways to count. Regarding my love of wine, I was recently able to attend a wine event (beautifully and expertly hosted by Lake Travis Wine Trader) that was created around one of the most important and celebrated winemakers of our time: Heidi Peterson Barrett.

I have been around many substantial celebrities throughout my life and Heidi is similar to them in many ways. She is artistic, disarming, articulate, earthy, approachable, and certainly erudite in her profession. And WOW does she make great wine! In spite of her remarkable success and rock star status, she is a really nice person who intrinsically recognizes that her own substantive talent collided head on with luck.

If you don’t know her name, you certainly will recognize the wines she has made and continues to have her hands in. It seems almost unfair to mention her most successful wine to date because it far eclipses anything she or nearly anyone else in the world has ever accomplished. I’m talking about Screaming Eagle of course. The first vintage in 1992 today still commands over $10,000 per bottle, if you can find it at all. Early production being around 225 cases a year, at once contributed to its cult status and rarity. In 2000 Ms. Barrett’s Screaming Eagle set a record for the world’s most expensive single bottle of wine (although it was a 6 liter bottle), which sold at auction for a cool $500K. That record still stands today and Heidi is still humble about the whole affair.

Other wines she is currently responsible for include Amuse Bouche, Paradigm, Barbour, Lamborn, Kenzo, Revana Family, and Fantesca. Past clients include Buehler, Dalla Valle, Jones Family, Rubicon, Grace Family, Vineyard 29, David Arthur, and Showket. So now you can understand that meeting Heidi is like meeting the wine industry’s equivalent of Madonna, Sting, Aretha Franklin or the Beatles.

But she didn’t arrive in Austin just to take a bow before her enormous base of adoring fans. She has been doing a break-neck road tour to share her very own wines under the La Sirena label that she’s been making since 1994. In less than a couple of weeks she’ll need to be back in Napa (Calistoga more accurately) to oversee this year’s harvest and once that starts she understandably won’t be seen for months before coming up for air again. La Sirena, like all things Heidi Barrett, is very considerable and excellent. We tasted through all five current releases:

2007 - Moscato Azul – gorgeous in everyway, very floral and fermented until dry with less than 2% residual sugar (unlike the typical Italian white dessert wine made from this variety) - $30

2005 – Syrah, Santa Ynez – one of my favorites of the evening, beautifully balanced with an elegant proportion of smokiness, which I love in big reds - $45

2005 – Syrah, Napa Valley – round, smooth but still fresh and exciting with lots of dark fruit; again her fingerprints were all over this: very balanced - $60

2006 – Syrah, Barrett Vineyard, Napa – copious amounts of concentration with very French Northern Rhone characteristics for me, I really loved this, and because it comes from her own two acre vineyard, unfortunately there’s not going to be much of this around for long - $80

2006 – Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa – this variety is where Heidi shines and probably is dearest to her heart, this wine was very fine, complex and long; if laid down for another three to five years this wine will really come together. As always, patience is a virtue when contemplating big cabs and such patience is sure to be rewarded in this case. Fabulous! - $150 

Who knows when La Sirena could become the next Screaming Eagle? One thing is for sure – all of the ingredients are there. And yes, it all starts with great fruit, but even great fruit can’t be transformed into great wine without a great winemaker. 

If you’re having trouble finding this at your favorite retailer you can buy it directly from La Sirena (for those states that allow direct shipping) by going to their website at http://www.lasirenawine.com. I truly hope you don’t miss this wine and I truly wish I had much more time to share this monumental event with you. Perhaps over a glass of La Sirena.

David Boyer - Heidi Barrett