This is an updated version of an article that appeared previously in the San Jose Mercury News

By Laurie Daniel

When Merry Edwards started looking for a winemaking job in 1973, it was a position that was rarely filled by a female. But she overcame the hurdle, and more than 40 years later, Edwards is still going strong. She’s a pinot noir specialist, crafting bold, flavorful but elegant wines at Merry Edwards Winery in the Russian River Valley. Her pinots are full-bodied, but they are unmistakably pinot. They would never be confused with, say, syrah.

Edwards didn’t originally set out to be a winemaker. She was interested in wine and had experimented with fermenting beer and fruit wines, but she studied physiology at the University of California-Berkeley, with the goal of writing about nutrition. But her interests shifted after a visit to UC-Davis, and she went on in 1973 to earn a master’s there in food science, with an emphasis on enology.

But it wasn’t easy to find a job as a winemaker. Edwards was offered jobs in winery labs, which is where women were often relegated to in those days, but she held out for something better. (Women winemakers are much more common these days, but not as common as you might think. Only about 10 percent of California’s lead winemakers are women, according to Women Winemakers of California; click here for the group’s website.)

Edwards finally was hired as the winemaker at Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is where she first worked with pinot noir. “It excited me more than the cab or the chardonnay or the merlot,” she says.
Mount Eden is best known for its estate chardonnay. So why pinot? “Why do you fall in love with your partner?” Edwards says. “It’s hard to give a reason.”

After three years she moved to Sonoma County, where she put aside pinot and helped develop Matanzas Creek Winery. In 1984, she left Matanzas Creek to consult and run her own short-lived brand, Merry Vintners.

Edwards purchased land in 1996 in the Russian River Valley, which became her Meredith Estate vineyard. At the time, she says, people thought the site was too cold, but since then, vintners have been planting in ever more marginal places. She started Merry Edwards Winery the next year.
Coopersmith Vineyard, named for her husband, Ken Coopersmith, was planted in 2001. It was at Coopersmith that she built her winery, which was completed in 2008. Edwards also works with grapes from a number of other vineyards in the Russian River Valley.

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about what constitutes “balanced” pinot noir – a subject that Edwards has strong opinions on. “I am unsure of exactly what is behind this current insistence that all wines must be under 14 percent to be balanced,” she says. Although she says she is not in the “it has be under 14 percent” alcohol camp, “I have felt for several decades that moderate alcohol creates wines of more intense aroma and rounder mouthfeel. Also, grapes picked at a moderate Brix do not have to be ameliorated, and overripe flavors are avoided.” She adds that she looks at more than just the sugar levels in the grapes, including phenolic composition, pH and total acidity. “I am amazed each harvest to see that our grape delivery trucks seem to be some of the earliest running. I always ask myself, ‘What is everyone waiting for?’ “

In 2013, her 40th year as a winemaker, Edwards was inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s Vintners Hall of Fame in St. Helena and won the James Beard Award for best wine, beer or spirits professional.

Edwards makes a smattering of other wines, but pinots are the stars of her lineup. The least expensive ones are the appellation pinots. The 2013 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($42) is structured yet supple, with dark raspberry fruit, baking spice and a hint of forest floor. The 2013 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($48), a blend of six vineyards, offers full-bodied cherry and raspberry fruit, some spicy notes and a hint of wet stone.

The single-vineyard wines each have their own personality (not always the case with some wineries). For example, the 2013 Meredith Estate Pinot Noir ($60) is rich and structured, with black raspberry, spice and a note of forest floor. The 2013 Flax Vineyard Pinot Noir ($57) has more of a red fruit profile with a distinct floral note. The 2013 Georganne Pinot Noir ($60) displays lively fruit, baking spice, a hint of forest floor and a supple finish. And the 2013 Olivet Lane Pinot Noir ($65) is more structured and a good one to age.

Edwards is also known for her sauvignon blanc. She doesn’t like the grassy style that’s so popular these days, so tries to minimize herbaceousness with her vineyard practices and by barrel-fermenting the wine, which is racy yet creamy. She also makes a luscious late-harvest sauvignon blanc when the vintage is just right.