Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of seaweed and umami with bark and sea salt as well as strawberry. Medium body. Red berries on the palate. Savory and flavorful. Yet agile. Ready to go.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast has a very pretty and lifted profile in its aromas of red berries and pepper spice, and it’s very rosy, with ultra-fine tannins. It has a silky texture and is evenly balanced. Very elegantly styled, I would encourage readers who were not fans of the old style to check this out. It’s approachable now, but it won’t be lost if held for another 8-10 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Deeply colored and aromatically compelling, this Pinot gives waves of dark cherry, blackberry and black tea on the nose. The palate is rich and textured but juicy, with flavors of Bing cherry, cocoa powder and raspberry. A core of mouthwatering orange-peel acid holds down the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Backed by singed anise and black tea accents, this bursts with mulberry and cherry notes. Offers a frankly toasty frame, but the fruit wins out easily. This will provide very tasty drinking in the near future. Drink now through 2029.
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Vinous
The 2021 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast) is a delight. Plump and forward, the 2021 offers up succulent dark cherry, plum, spice, licorice and new leather. Soft, plush contours wrap it all together. Readers will find a bold Pinot that is ready to provide pleasure.
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.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.