Winemaker Notes
The nose on this vintage features an undercurrent of sweetness, with hints of root beer and cherry cola, along with ripe cherries, caramel, and floral and forest notes. The full-forward palate, with an elegant entry, offers pine and sweet red fruit, with dried cocoa throughout the extended finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Grapes are de-stemmed and cold-soaked for five days, then aged for nine months in 37% new French oak. This is the flagship wine of the estate, and the first wine Merry Edwards ever produced. Roughly 60% of the fruit is estate-grown, with the balance sourced from growers, predominantly from the Laguna Ridge and Sebastopol Hills. The wine is incredibly delicious, showing a vibrant red-fruited character layered with Indian spice nuances and ultra-fine, powdery tannins. A long line of crushed stone minerality runs through the palate, finishing with a distinctly saline mineral edge. Bright, expressive, and complex, it captures both energy and finesse in equal measure.
-
James Suckling
A rich and dark-fruited wine with complex aromas of brooding black cherries, resinous herbs and mint. The palate is juicy, with broad tannins and flavors of cherries, sage and black tea. Medium- to full-bodied.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley matured for nine months in 37% new French oak. It has slowly unfurling scents of cranberry, rhubarb, Earl Grey tea leaves, forest floor and dried herbs. The full-bodied palate offers concentrated, autumnal flavors. It’s structured by fine-grained tannins and mouthwatering acidity and has a long, layered finish.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Focused aromas of concentrated raspberry, cherry gastrique, violets, and cola spice waft from the glass on the nose of this Pinot. The palate is richly structured, with grippy tannin, plenty of acid, and flavors of roasted Bing cherry, cinnamon, cedar, and shiitake that linger all through the finish.
-
Wine Spectator
Offers punchy pomegranate and cherry fruit, with good energy pushing everything along as iris and apple wood accents help fuel the finish. A crowd-pleaser.
Merry Edwards Winery was founded in 1997 and produces critically acclaimed terroir-driven Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blanc using site-specific viticulture in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations. Over two decades, Merry assembled a stellar collection of vineyards and with her meticulous attention to detail crafted Pinot Noirs of immense depth, elegant structure and exceptional longevity. Her Sauvignon Blanc is among the most sought after in the world.
Now a Certified California Sustainable Winery, the brand entered a new chapter after Merry’s retirement. Merry’s handpicked successor, Winemaker Heidi von der Mehden, and Winery President Nicole Carter have taken up exactly where Merry left off and will continue to make wines treasured by legions of Merry Edwards’ fans well into the future.
While the Russian River Valley is a large appellation with multiple climate zones and soil types, it is best known for cool-climate varieties, with Pinot Noir as the most celebrated. The grapes benefit from a reliable late afternoon flow of Pacific Ocean fog through the Petaluma Gap and along the Russian River Valley that ensures slow and steady ripening and the preservation of grape acidity. Today many of California’s most highly regarded Pinot Noir vineyards are in the Russian River Valley, along with its sub-appellation, Green Valley.
Historically Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs had bright red fruit and delicate earthy, mineral notes. But changes in viticultural and winemaking practices have led to stylistic changes in some of the region’s wines. Adjustments to canopy management, among other techniques, have resulted in riper fruit and bolder wines as well. These show flavors of black cherry, blackberry, cola, spice and darker, loamy earth tones, accenting traditional Pinot Noir notes of strawberry, raspberry and light cherry.