Deirdre Heekin

The Climb

Restaurant management and winegrowing sit on the same line in Deirdre Heekin's work: at Osteria Pane e Salute in Woodstock, Vermont, she serves as co-owner, manager, wine director, and head chef, while at La Garagista in Barnard, Vermont, she is co-founder and co-collaborator and winegrower. La Garagista, founded in 2010, anchors that second practice.

Today

In Barnard, the work remains attached to the farm winery model that Deirdre Heekin describes in plain terms: "Now, we have a farm winery named La Garagista." The vineyard side is tied to the restaurant side through the same land use and sourcing logic; as she put it, "Several years ago we built gardens and planted a small orchard out in the country so that we could grow many of our own ingredients for our restaurant in the village." That holding also extends beyond wine into infused liqueurs made with "herbs, flowers, nuts, and fruits from the gardens."

In Their Words “Several years ago we built gardens and planted a small orchard out in the country so that we could grow many of our own ingredients for our restaurant in the village.” “We also make liqueurs infused with herbs, flowers, nuts, and fruits from the gardens.”