Winemaker Notes
The 2022 Olivet Lane Pinot Noir's deep purple nose is immediately inviting, featuring fragrant, ripe cherries, blackberries and violets along with complex notes of cedar, cigar box and black tea. The bright, juicy entry is balanced by its plush mouthfeel. On the palate, red fruit and chocolate-covered cherries lead to a savory, slightly spicy finish.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Olivet Lane was the first site to produce a vineyard-designated Pinot Noir for Merry Edwards in 1997. Aged ten months in (83% new) French oak, this sharply focused expression delivers a bounty of spiced red cherry within a juicy, luscious mouthfeel. A lick of salinity charges pomegranate, black tea, and cedar.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A later ripening site, the fruit for the 2022 Pinot Noir Olivet Lane was picked in mid-September, after the heat spike, but she felt the vines were more resilient due to their age (planted in 1975). The wine pours a ripe ruby/magenta color and is ripe in the glass with notes of kirsch, minty herbs, pine, anise, and dark spice. Aged for 10 months in 83% new French oak barrels, it’s medium-bodied and has an even-keeled and focused structure, with fine tannins and bright acidity.
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Wine Spectator
This bursts with juicy, bramble-laced flavors of boysenberry, cherry and raspberry coulis, while dried hibiscus, red tea and lightly singed anise details emerge on the finish. Offers a toasty frame, but ample energy keeps the fruit center stage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir Olivet Lane has pretty scents of red cherries, orange peel, Earl Grey tea leaves and botanicals. The light-bodied palate has soft, approachable tannins, fresh acidity, detailed flavors and a long, spicy finish.
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.