Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Just as with this producer's other 2006 Pinots, this limited commemorative bottling is a wine meant for age. It is deep in dense, cherry-like fruit and hints at layering to come with elements of sweet spice, dried flowers and trim oak just beginning to show. Its sophistication is clear even if it is still a bit tight and framed by fairly firm finishing acids, but it has all the right pieces in place to grow into beauty if allowed to sit quietly for four or five years.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a very powerful, young Pinot Noir, in the way it hits the palate and commandeers it with fruit and tannins. Offers vast waves of cherries, raspberries, red currants, cola, spices and oak, in a dry, silky package. Clearly too young, it needs to be cellared until mellow.
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Wine & Spirits
This is the first vintage of Angel Wing, made from a field blend of clones harvested at Merry Edwards's Meredith Estate Vineyard on the cool southern edge of the Russian River Valley. This lot came into the winery on the morning that her young son, Warren Miller, passed away; as it developed in the winery, Edwards decided to keep it separate and bottle it as a tribute to her son. The wine's complexity centers on bosky cherry and floral spice. It has the round and luscious texture that Edwards achieves in her best pinots, this one balancing the warmth of alcohol with a structure that will benefit from years of development in the bottle.
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.