Winemaker Notes
The aromas on the nose are red-fruit driven, featuring ripe raspberries and fresh strawberries with a pretty hint of vanilla. On entry, this wine is bright and buoyed by refreshing acidity, and a persistent core of tannins brings elegant texture. Hints of yellow fruit skin and gravel give way to a slightly spicy finish highlighted by notes of blood orange and cherry cola.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Whole berry- fermented and aged nine months in (47% new) French oak, this red dispenses aromas of crushed violets, incense, wet stone, and boysenberry. Prickly white pepper perks up notes of plum and mocha in the mouth, but there's a calmness on the midpalate as well as hints of orange rind, soy sauce, and brushy dried wildflowers.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley has pure, intense aromas of raspberry jam, grapefruit, juniper and violet and becomes more expressive as it airs in the glass. The medium-bodied palate features concentrated fruit matched by abundant, grainy tannins and refreshing acidity, and it has a long, floral finish.
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Wine Spectator
Sports vivid, punchy boysenberry and mulberry fruit, along with a burst of hibiscus throughout, all framed by a sleek, toasty edge that holds sway through the finish. Shows focus and energy, just needs time for the fruit to push through the authoritative wood treatment. Best from 2024 through 2030. 4,240 cases made.
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.