Winemaker Notes
This wine lives up to its name, Coopersmith, reflecting the gregarious and generous nature of my husband, Ken! It's a rich, forward wine packed with blueberry, cassis, cherry and huckleberry fruit. Highlights of licorice, black tea, cocoa, cinnamon, white pepper and a hint of orange oil round out its aromatic complexity. Solid, ripe grape tannins and toasty vanilla oak sourced from François Frères give the broad palate a lush feel so typical of this vineyard. This Pinot will live happily in your cellar, improving for many years to come.
Caroline Chang submitted Cherry Braised Lamb Shanks with Cowboy Polenta as her entry to our Win a Magnum contest. Just add a side of steamed, garden-fresh broccoli and you're in for a delectable meal. Find this winner on our recipe page at www.merryedwards.com.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
What’s so wonderful about this Pinot is the way it reconciles all sorts of opposites. It’s dry but sweet in fruit, and delicate yet potent at the same time. It’s totally accessible now, but enormously complex. Flavors of raspberries and cherries meld with pomegranates and persimmons, as well as mushrooms, tea and licorice. It’s a joy to drink now, and should develop in the cellar for at least 10 years.
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.