Heidi comes from a family of winemakers and has helped her father in the vineyards since childhood. Having received her degree in oenology from Davis University, she gained wide experience working in wineries in California, Germany and Australia. In 1992, she was invited as an oenologist and winemaker to the Napa Valley farm. It is Screaming Eagle’s all wines made by her receive 100 points from Robert Parker and become the most expensive in the Napa Valley. In 2008, Heidi Peterson-Barrett in partnership with her longtime friend John Schwartz got 2.8 hectares of land in Atlas Peak in the Napa Valley. This is one of the highest wine-growing areas in the world (600 meters above sea level) It is began a joint wine project which they called Au Sommet (French for "on top"). Vine grower Jim Barboura acted as a consultant. Au Sommet’s on-site garden sells natural fresh produce, including cheese made from their own goat’s milk.