MacRostie Winery Estate House
Healdsburg, CAThe MacRostie Estate House sits on a small knoll, with Healdsburg vineyard and hillside views in all directions. In designing the landscape, the guiding principals were to honor the rural history of the site and the clean contemporary lines of the new hospitality and barrel buildings, as well as the Scottish heritage of founder, Steve MacRostie.
We sought to create multiple destinations on site, each with its own unique character, setting, and views. Working with GouldEvans Architecture, we supplemented the Estate House’s indoor tasting bar and seating areas with three attached terraces: a covered terrace looking north and east, an open balcony terrace looking east over the vineyard with the Mayacamas Range in the background, and a private covered terrace off the south VIP room facing south and east over the vineyard.
Outside in the landscape, a gravel terrace with a water feature extends from the north terrace, a paved terrace with curving seat walls creates a terrace between the Estate House and the Barrel Room, and a hidden gravel terrace with custom benches nestles under a pair of mature Valley Oaks out in the vineyard.
The thistle, symbol of Scotland and the graphic behind the MacRostie name on each bottle of wine, appears on the wood and steel entry sign, as well as on the arrival terrace fountain. The leitmotif or recurring theme of the planting design celebrates Steve MacRostie’s Scottish heritage, the topography of the site, and the architecture of the winery through thoughtful plant selection and design.
Scottish native plants such as Scotch heathers (Callunas) and heaths (Ericas) mixed with grassy meadows, all suitable for the northern CA climate combine to create a colorful textural tapestry that accentuates the undulating hillsides adjacent to the vineyard. The grass meadows are punctuated by both Scottish Bluebells and perennial thistle (Echinops), echoing the MacRostie Winery logo. Flowering Crabapple trees flanking the entry, and columnar English Oaks at the Barrel Building speak to the rural character of the winery location and maintain views all around the winery‘s hilltop location.
Architecture: Gould Evans Architecture
Construction: Wright Contracting
Landscape Installation: Summit Landscaping