Wine Country: America

Wine Subregion: California

Wine Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc

Any investigation of women winemaking in California always leads back to Merry Edwards.  Merry’s single-minded pursuit to become one of the country’s premier winemakers brought her through a minefield of naysayers and an Old Boy network that never thought a woman could succeed in their world.  They were wrong!  From the day she took over the winemaking duties at the seminal Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains all through a stellar decades-long career that culminated in the opening of her own winery in 1997, Merry has been a pioneer with a passion for discovering the best fruit and turning it into wines of incredible distinction and character.  It’s been several years now, though, since Merry sold her business to a like-minded Louis Roederer Champagne organization similarly dedicated to enhancing the reputation of this ultra-important Russian River Valley winery.  And, in doing so, promoted as Merry’s successor Heidi Von der Mehden, Merry’s protegee since 2015.  Heidi’s approach has been to honor Merry’s legacy while, at the same time, make some modest course corrections of her own that will ultimately fine tune the portfolio for the distant future.  Over these past few years, the winemaking has not missed a beat! Merry Edwards standbys like the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinots are certainly at the top of their respective games.  

I once asked Merry if she ever could have imagined that Sauvignon Blanc would be such a successful wine for her after all her experience making Pinot Noir for the likes of Mount Eden in the early part of her career.  She reminded me that it was during her eight years at Matanzas Creek that she learned to love and master SB, and it was quite natural for her to make it instead of Chardonnay when she opened Merry Edwards. And successful it has been.  The Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc has been on the shortlist of America’s very best SBs for many years and its shimmery, deeply fruited, but very lively style resonates with just about every lover of the variety.  The house style, the same as it ever was, makes good use of the rare French Musque clone of Sauvignon that brings a certain tropicality and florality to the blend,  It plays well with the more traditional Shenandoah clone’s grassier, more piquant personality.  Fermentation in wood adds a mouth-filling texture and softens what could be an aggressive personality, making it an easier drink and accentuating the wine’s more Bordelaise character. But whether you’re comparing it with Bordeaux Blanc, Sancerre, its competitors in America or Sauvignon Blanc made anywhere else in the world, Merry Edwards’ continues to reign supreme! 

No reviews yet but the 2022 was the Wine Spectator’s #16 Wine of the Year, rating it 95 points.