Wine from the Edge of the Forest
La Garagista Farm & Winery is one of the most visionary and boundary-pushing natural wine projects in North America — a biodynamic, regenerative farm and winery in Vermont that has transformed the impossible into the inevitable. [^153^] [^154^] Founded in 2010 by Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber — a husband-wife team who came to wine through food, Italy, and a deep belief in place — La Garagista farms 12 acres of vines across five parcels in the Chateauguay Forest and the Champlain Valley, growing cold-climate hybrid grapes that most of the wine world has never heard of, and making approximately 35 different cuvées of wine, cider, and co-fermentation each year. [^153^] [^158^] Eric Asimov of The New York Times called it "perhaps the most creative wine project in the United States." [^164^]
From an Italian Osteria to a Vermont Hillside
Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber did not grow up in wine. Deirdre's journey began unconventionally — after a stint living and working in Italy, co-directing a performance and dance company, teaching English, and pulling beers and espresso in a piano bar, she opened the much-lauded bakery Pane e Salute and restaurant Osteria Pane e Salute in 1996 with Caleb. [^153^] Caleb was chef; Deirdre was the wine director. Over time, they focused on the restaurant and farming fruits, vegetables, and livestock for the kitchen, and then planted their first vines in 2007. [^153^]
Deirdre's interest in wine was sculpted by their time living and working in Italy. She specialised in indigenous Italian varietals, and like many sommeliers, reached a point where she wanted to understand fermentation kinesthetically — to better educate tableside and tell the stories of the producers on their list. [^159^] She began making wine at home with fruit from California and Italy. A couple of years in, she realised she needed to go further: she needed to actually grow the wine in the field, as this is how the majority of the producers on her list worked. [^159^] That led her down the rabbit hole.
They ran both the osteria and their wine label from 2010 to 2017, when they closed the restaurant to focus solely on growing and making wine in the burgeoning wine region of Vermont. [^153^] Caleb, who grew up in southern Vermont, brought his own detours to the project — from driving Belgians and loading haybales at 16, to dairy farming, to restaurant kitchens, to an Italian apprenticeship that set his cookery on a new mission. [^153^] Together, they transformed a hillside farm in Barnard into a biodynamic vineyard, and later expanded to the Champlain Valley.
Today, Deirdre farms and makes wine in both the Chateauguay mountains and the Champlain Valley. She is a graduate of Middlebury College and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The Vermont College of Fine Art. She is the author of three books — the most recent, An Unlikely Vineyard — and is at work on a fourth, The Vineyard of Lost Time, to be published in 2027 with Timber Press. [^153^] Caleb is the general manager of the domaine, develops recipes for the Wednesday food section of the Boston Globe, and aspires to bring a respectable crop of chicories to full maturity in a Vermont growing season. [^153^]
"This is a story of two people who fell in love with a place of deep bedrock made of limestone and shale, clay. This is a story of volcanoes that once moved across Time to plow the earth into a tumble of granite, schist, and garnet."
— Deirdre Heekin & Caleb Barber
Biodynamic, Regenerative & Silvo-Viticulture
La Garagista's farming is guided by biodynamics, regenerative agriculture, and what they call silvo-viticulture — the integration of trees, vines, and forest edge ecology. [^153^] [^154^] They use typical biodynamic preparations: horn manure, silica, horsetail, stinging nettle, kaolin clay, and small amounts of minerals copper and sulfur. [^155^] But their approach goes beyond biodynamic prescriptions. They believe in polyculture and permaculture — planting fruit trees in raised beds with herbs and vegetables, onions and cabbages in the rose garden, carrots and parsnips and roses in the vineyard. [^159^]
The home farm vineyard in Barnard is the beating heart of all five parcels. It comprises two mountain vineyards on volcanic soils facing each other — Les Bonnes Femmes (lower) and La Forestière (upper) — where the orchard feeds into the rose garden, which blends into the vineyard, which surrounds a secret garden full of vegetables and flowers, grazed by sheep, and inhabited by wild creatures from the forest. [^158^] In the Champlain Valley, La Selva Vineyard in West Addison sits on clay, limestone, and shale, described by the wild flora and fauna that create a certain magic in the vines. [^158^] Les Carouges Vineyard in Vergennes is defined by wide-open space, epic romance, and the red-winged blackbirds who make nests in the vines. [^158^]
The Red Horse Vineyard in Bridgewater sits on a high mountain slope, in an old pasture tucked beneath an orchard on glacial till of schist, gneiss, and granite. [^158^] Each parcel has its own personality, its own geology, its own microclimate. Deirdre and Caleb adapt their farming systems as each season presents a different scenario for each piece of land. [^159^] In one vineyard they work with the wild flora which protects the vines from disease pressures. In another, they focus on establishing cover and flower crops that inform the situation of a parcel born of wind and sun. [^159^]
The vines are cold-climate hybrids — La Crescent, Marquette, Frontenac Gris, Frontenac Blanc, Frontenac Noir, Brianna, St. Croix, and others — selected intentionally for their ability to thrive in Vermont's harsh winters and short growing season. [^154^] These are not vinifera grapes. They are horticultural crosses descended from European vinifera and native American stock — a melting pot, as Deirdre describes them, uniquely American and uniquely expressive of the places they grow. [^159^]
Horn manure, silica, horsetail, stinging nettle, kaolin clay, copper, sulfur. [^155^] Working with nature, not against it. The biodynamic calendar guides planting, pruning, and harvesting.
Trees, vines, and forest edge ecology integrated. [^153^] Fruit trees in raised beds with herbs, onions in the rose garden, carrots in the vineyard. Sheep graze between rows. A whole-farm agriculture.
La Crescent, Marquette, Frontenac, Brianna, St. Croix — varieties bred for Vermont's harsh winters. [^154^] "A melting pot, just like we are, and so expressive of these places we all call home." [^159^]
Home Farm (Barnard), La Selva (West Addison), Red Horse (Bridgewater), Les Carouges (Vergennes), and Field Studies partnerships. [^158^] Each with its own geology, microclimate, and story.
Native Yeast, Foot Crush & Little to No Sulfite
La Garagista's winemaking is minimal and intentful. Fruit is handpicked and field-sorted, then foot-crushed through pigéage. [^158^] They employ glass demijohns and old barrels, flex tanks and anfora. [^158^] They rely on the wild yeast found on their fruit — "the result of a happy marriage of field and fermentation." [^158^] They use little to no sulfite at bottling; it depends on the wine and the season. [^158^]
Deirdre describes her approach as that of a companion and guide. "I think of myself as a companion to the fruit, and a guide to the wine," she told Sprudge in 2017. "I approach my farming as an artisan would their craft, or an artist their medium. I believe in integrity and transparency." [^159^] She is not dogmatic about sulfur — if it is needed, she uses it in moderation; if not, she relies on the fruit and the wine's stability and strength. [^159^]
The range is extraordinary — approximately 35 different cuvées each year, including wines, ciders, and co-fermentations. [^158^] Most are farmed by La Garagista and made with domaine fruit. The Field Studies family explores collaborations with other Vermont farmers, making wines from terroirs where La Garagista does not farm. [^158^] We Are Not So, for example, is a collaboration with Shabir Kamal at Lilac Ridge and Brian and Beth at Potluck Farm — a 50/50 blend of Marquette and Verona from high alpine meadows. [^161^]
The wines vary wildly from vintage to vintage — "each vintage may herald slightly different bottlings, and even wines that we tend to make every year will show variation from vintage to vintage. This intrigues us," the winery writes. [^158^] They believe terroir encompasses geology, geography, microclimate, varietal, culture, and the human hand. Wine cannot make itself — their job is to accompany and support it throughout its life in the vineyard and winery. [^158^]
In recent years, La Garagista has introduced a CSA model — The Forêt Wine Guild — to help supporters access their wines directly, given the scarcity of certain vintages. [^164^] They host pop-up tasting rooms in Barnard and West Addison: Little Forêt Caviste for flights and snacks, The Wolfe Club for communal suppers paired with domaine wines, and Bar No'Ella for Sunday morning bubbles, bread, and bouquets. [^152^]
"We Are Not So" 2023 — Marquette & Verona Pét-Nat, 15 Cases
"Our Field Studies family of wines is an exploration of other landscapes in Vermont and partnerships with other farmers. We Are Not So is a vineyard blend, one of several wines we are making from a high alpine vineyard on the backside of southern Vermont's Round Mountain, an undertaking of memory and dream. The fruit there is grown by Shabir Kamal on the Thurber family farm {Lilac Ridge} in a field described by daisy fleabane, Carolina horsenettle, and limestone outcroppings. Dairy cows graze in the bony meadow above where lilacs must have once been. Marquette from this idyllic vineyard is blended with a newer red grape variety called Verona, fat bunches with blue-black skin, grown by our friends Brian and Beth at Potluck Farm in Perkinsville, another high mountain meadow encircled by forest, a crow's rook, and dramatic views. A 50/50 blend, the hallmark blackberry cobbler of the Lilac Ridge Marquette in collaboration with the more savory, deep baritone of Verona make for friendly companions in this frothy red pet nat." [^161^] Disgorged February 2025. 12% alcohol. 15 cases produced. A one-time special release. Recently lovely with a lunch of celery and bean soup served alongside bratwurst with country mustard and a slice of Comté cheese. This is La Garagista at its most collaborative and poetic — a wine that is not just a beverage but a story of place, people, and the wild beauty of Vermont's high meadows. ~$48.
The La Garagista Range
La Garagista Farm & Winery produces approximately 35 different cuvées each year across five vineyard parcels in Vermont — wines, ciders, and co-fermentations made with minimal intervention from cold-climate hybrid grapes. [^158^] All fruit is handpicked, field-sorted, and foot-crushed. Fermentation relies on wild yeast. Elevage uses glass demijohns, old barrels, flex tanks, and anfora. Sulfite is used sparingly and only when necessary. [^158^] The range is constantly evolving, with each vintage bringing new bottlings and new stories. [^158^] Prices are from the winery's online shop and in USD.