Heron Vineyard is a small site of only 0.6 hectares in the Sonoma Mountain AVA, and was originally owned by Harry Crete. Rudy Rodriguez, who was from Oaxaca, Mexico and was familiar with avocado cultivation, planted the first grapes here in 1969. From the 1970s to the 1980s, the grapes were purchased by Mike and Mary Benziger (Benziger Winery). In 1989, Phyllis Herron purchased the vineyard from Crete and has been the owner ever since. The person in charge of cultivation at this vineyard is Rodriguez's nephew, Servando Rodriguez. This is a rare vineyard that has been managed organically since 1969. The winemaking process for this wine is quite simple. The grapes were harvested by hand with the help of family and friends. After pressing, fermentation took place in old barrels and aged with the lees. The wine was bottled with minimal sulfites. Alex Pitts, who had been an assistant winemaker for many years at the pioneering California nature movement, the Scholium Project, went independent and learned brewing at Leo Steen, and teamed up with Martin Winter, who was a sommelier at the three-star Michelin restaurant Meadowwood in Napa, to establish the brand in 2012. In 2019, they were selected as Winemakers to Watch by the US national newspaper San Francisco Chronicle, and are the most dynamic young duo right now. Their motto is to make high-quality, unique, "California-like" wines while minimizing human intervention and striving to maximize the individuality of the fields. Using their own network, they not only cultivate organically, but also find old rooted vines and fields that have not yet been noticed, and brew using only indigenous yeasts, so that the flavor and individuality of the grape varieties are reflected in the wine. "Maître de Chai" is a French word (mainly Bordeaux) that means winemaker. Now they are independent and can make a living just by managing their own winery, but when they first started "Maître de Chai", both of them worked as winemakers and assistants at other wineries. In the midst of such difficulties, they had a mentor who gave them the opportunity to work in the cellar and shared his knowledge of winemaking and cultivation with them, and this is the brand name that expresses their gratitude, in the sense that they are who they are today because of that. In other words, "Maître de Chai" is the job title that led Alex and Martin to enter the wine industry, and it is their origin. The label features an illustration drawn in 1883, showing Libertas, the Statue of Liberty in Roman mythology, and a grizzly bear, the symbol of California, toasting. California adopted the grizzly bear as its state flag in 1911, so this painting was made before that. The side of the barrel depicts a sailing ship and a worker holding a hoe that reached the American West Coast after a long journey during the Gold Rush (1848). The original illustration had the word "Eureka" on the side of the barrel, meaning "Found!", and the sides of the wooden wine crate had "Mission," "Pineau," "Riesling," and "Zinfandel" written on them, respectively. However, as the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Administration did not approve the design, the word "Eureka" was removed, and the side of the wooden crate now lists the grape varieties actually used in the wine.