Sarah Hedges Goedhart

The Climb

Formal training at University of San Diego gave Sarah Hedges Goedhart a base, but the cellar at Hedges Family Estate gave that training its working form. When she entered as assistant winemaker in 2006, the job meant learning how harvest, site, and decision-making shape the finished wine. That first cellar role became the ground from which her skill and judgment were built, season by season, in the measured pace that winemaking demands. Today, that path has placed Sarah at the top of the house as Head Winemaker of Hedges Family Estate.

Today

Head Winemaker at the Red Mountain estate means carrying production from vineyard to bottle, with technical precision doing the heavy lifting and instinct filling the gaps where it has to. Sarah Hedges Goedhart sits inside that process at Red Mountain, Washington, United States, where consistency is part of the brief and so is judgment. The role asks for control without rigidity, and she has grown into it through the work itself. The estate’s style is framed, in her account, by French influence across the grapes, the winemaking, and the labels. That line runs through the house’s broader philosophy as well: a balanced, old-world-style wine that resists chasing fashion. For Hedges Family Estate, Sarah describes continuity, restraint, and clarity as the operating principles.

Signature

Sarah's signature wines include Three Vineyards, La Haute Cuvée, CMS, Red Mountain Syrah, and Bel’ Villa Vineyard. Each sits within the broader architecture of the estate’s style, but Bel’ Villa Vineyard holds particular distinction in her own specialty, Syrah from Bel’ Villa Vineyard. Together, these wines speak to the range of her work and the consistency of her hand, moving from one expression to the next without losing the family resemblance that defines the house.

In Their Words “French is everywhere. From the grapes to the winemaking to the labels. It’s one of the reasons Hedges has been around so long. We don’t follow fads — we have just stayed with our philosophy of balanced, old-world-style wine.” “I think my favorite part of the job is making a product that brings to life a story.”

Recognition

Her named specialty is Syrah from Bel’ Villa Vineyard, a focus that underscores the relationship between place and expression at the heart of her work. The appeal, for Sarah, lies not simply in making wine, but in shaping something that carries memory, character, and narrative in every bottle. As she puts it, the deepest satisfaction comes from making a product that brings to life a story.