Merry Edwards Winery

Nice wines. I liked their Pinots and Sauvignon blanc (and I usually don’t! Might be bc it’s oaked). I thought it was super interesting they poured it last (apparently Merry was tasting in France and they did it there, so she incorporated it into her own tasting). They won top ten best wines (in the US? In CA? I don’t remember) in Wine Spectator for it. I love that it’s a female wine maker, owner, etc. Their tastings are free, which is awesome! Pourer was knowledgeable, engaging, and nice. Only thing is the tastings feel like a meeting in a conference room. Not my fave vibe, but can’t argue with free and quality wines!

Nice Sav Blanc and I’m not even a fan usually. The pinots were good and definitely one or two I really liked, but not quite what I’ve been hearing. The tasting room was small, hidden, and would be better suited if it has more of it’s own entrance. We went on a Wednesday afternoon and it felt like walking into a warehouse front office, more awkward than a welcoming storefront feel. A little too sterile or perhaps just not winery like. The gal who helped us was knowledgeable and friendly. I’d give them another chance in the summer when they can open the outaide doors and make it more inviting. But free tasting is always a plus

If you are in the Sonoma area and would like to enjoy some delish chardonnay and pinot noir, add this to your list. Knowledgeable staff and free tastings.

This place is great for single vineyard pinot noir. I came here because I remember working at a restaurant that sold this particular wine and people SWORE by it. The tasting experience here is VERY HIGH END. They do small groups of people in these very posh rooms. Our wine attendant was extremely nice and knowledgeable. The whole experience was great, I was just not a big fan of the wines.
Also if you like that creamy buttery Chardonnay look no further.

This a a winery that my niece recommend. She is in the wine business and she knows her wines. We had a wine expert take us in a private room for tastings. We tried 4 different Pinot Noir wines and a Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. They were all amazing. His name was Brown and he was fantastic. At the end they told us that the tastings were complimentary. We were surprised. Needless to say we went home with two bottles ($ 90) worth. It was pricey but worth it. There wines are very good.

I’ve stopped by once before to taste her wines and was so thrilled I brought the family back after christmas. Tastings were complimentary, we even were able to make an appointment for the group to have a private tasting. Mike took us through 4 single vineyard Pinots, the Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay, and gave us an awesome breakdown of each vineyard and the wine making too.
Edwards’ wines are pretty distinctive, verging on the bigger more muscular pinot style (and more ageworthy), which I normally dislike, but they come with such a beautiful sense of place and a savory/​mineral backed personality that they are now my favorite CA Pinot Noirs. We took half a case home.

We did the complimentary tasting, and the staff member (a middle aged man… can’t recall his name) was absolutely excellent. Our group of four did the tasting, which is served in a small, closed-​off room, with a large group of visibly intoxicated people on a birthday trip. It was a little uncomfortable, as there wasn’t anywhere to move to avoid the other guests. However, the staff member was unfailingly professional, and we all enjoyed learning about the winery and the Russian River Valley from him.
Unfortunately, none of our group of four cared for any of the wines we sampled. The Chardonnay was decent, but not nearly with the $ 60.00 price tag. We did not buy anything at this winery.

Great wines. Personal attention in the tasting room. Amazing amount of information. What more could you want?

What a terrific wine tasting experience at Merry Edwards! The pourers here are incredibly knowledgeable and they invite & entertain all of your questions (whether novice or pro), providing a «curated» and focused (dare I say «intimate») tasting. Their Sauvignon Blanc is maybe the best I’ve ever had – and with a reasonable price point ($ 32) considering the excellent quality. Merry Edwards, you have impressed this picky, passionate wine lover.

A professional and educational wine tasting experience, Merry Edwards is a more formal tasting room for those who wish to learn or even the seasoned wine-​o.
Our bright and educated sommalier discussed the history of Meredith «Merry» Edwards, a Berkeley College deviant who brewed beer illicitly in her dorm room before the bay area vineyard boom. Merry went on to become the first female wine maker in California.
We were quite fond of the wines but even more so of a particular vineyard cat that was extremely friendly. Go to here!

Queen of Pinots, sure, but after the last time I went I would also argue Empress of Chardonnay and Tsarina of Sauvignon Blanc. Delicious delicious wine.

well this was not a letdown! i enjoy these wines after a friend hipped me to them. man the pinots are just my type. not too light. pretty big for pinot. tasting room was an ok experience nothing as dramatic as some other joints nearby. but what we are really here is for the wines. these were great. i walked with 7 bottles my biggest purchase in the 9 wineries i visited in this area.
don’t think twice, its allright.

Merry Edwards is an institution in the wine industry. The winemaker blazed trails for women winemakers in the U.S. with her dedication and ingenuity – and it shows in their wine. Unfortunately, there are several wines that aren’t available on the east coast (as least not that I have been able to find), and those that are available are spendy.
Merry Edwards was the first stop of a three-​day, 15-​vineyard trip through Sonoma, and what a way to start the trip! We had a one-​on-​one tasting with an incredibly friendly, very knowledgeable hostess. It was an intimate experience as far as tastings go. We walked out with a bottle of the Olivet Lane Pinot, which is a flagship wine from an exquisite vineyard. Of the 15 vineyards visited, the wine at M.E. was definitely in the top three.
The only reason this place gets four stars rather than five (it’s really 4.5÷5) is because we happened to prefer outdoor tasting experiences, and because there was no view to speak of. If you’re looking for a full tasting/​winery experience, I’d say this is ⁴⁄₅. If you’re looking for a more curated, «sheltered» experience that really focuses on the wine, I’d say this is a 5/​5, and a perfect wine tasting experience.

If you like big, jammy, fruity Pinots, and slowly sipping around the wine tasting counter, chatting up staff or petting dogs… Merry Edwards is not the place for you. The wines are restrained and complex, and they’re presented to you in a small room in a very specific way. It’s a little intense…

Really great people who are passionate about wine! Loved how laid back they are here and what terrific wines to taste. Brown was terrific telling the story of Merry Edwards!

We came here in a group for a tasting appointment which was at no cost to us. We had heard many great things about the wine here and were excited to taste.
The appointment was a little bit on the long side… about 30 minutes of it was spent in a history lesson of Merry and the chemistry of the grapes that make her Pinot Noir extra special — which they are. I felt like it could have been condensed a bit or even layered into the tastings.
We tasted that Chardonnay, four Pinots and a Sauv Blanc — all of which were excellent. Please keep in mind when coming here that the wine will be at least $ 50 – 60 a bottle but this is great wine meant for really special occassions and defintely will get even better with time if stored properly. At the very least, you can say that not having a tasting fee charged saves you $ 10 – 15 either way so just discount that from the bottle price and you’re getting the best deal in town!
Next time we return we will probably pass on the elaborate appointment setup and go for the 5-​wine flight — which is also free I believe. Enjoy!

The Merry Edwards Winery gets my stars pretty much all from the quality of their product. Merry is entering her 41^st year of crushing in the area and is well known for her excellent Pinot Noir.
As others have noted, the tastings are free, but unlike most other wineries the tastings are all curated in groups of up to 12. The pours are definitely tasting pours only — don’t expect the tasting flight that you might purchase elsewhere. But if your primary interest is in a proper tasting, then you’ll find the pours more than adequate for sniffing and swishing.
I found the curation a little too programmatic and rushed, but I’ll chalk that up to the large group we were in (12 tasters) and the packed house they had over the July 4^th weekend. On less hectic weekends I understand the curations are much more relaxed and personable. In any case, in our tasting we got all the basic info that we’d expect: vineyard location, soil type, growing conditions, and a little history on Merry Edwards herself.
In the end, I do expect to return for future tastings; but I’ll definitely try to hit them on a weekday or a less hectic weekend.

I decided to visit this winery because I had read about the wine maker prior to coming to Sonoma. Unfortunately we were not impressed with the wine. Tastings are free, thankfully but even the award winning Pinot was not much to my liking. It was interesting to hear about the process though.

Merry Edwards was a winery that was highly recommended by 2 other wineries we had visited that day — but unfortunately we were only halfway impressed by the winery itself & aren’t really sure why we even bought their wine
Right as the Mr & I showed up, we see a «receptionist desk» & we’re told a group tasting has just begun & we could join that group… apparently they only do tastings via group & not as people enter
Tastings are free — but we left there w/​the feeling we got what we paid for
We enter a room w/​sliding doors & the person is just about to finish up the 1^st wine so we bypassed it until later & started paying attention to the 2^nd… or so we thought
She went through all those wines so quickly that nothing stuck out for us. There was no time to savor or enjoy our tastes but we maybe thought we found a Pinot we liked enough to purchase… but couldn’t remember the name of it (see previous reference to speedily going through tasting)
So when we come out to the «receptionists» & ask about our «maybe» wine, they tell us they have no clue about which wine we’re referring… um, okay
Well, the tasting-​guide came out from the back, so we asked her & it was almost like she even forgot her reference to this wine as well (something about a blind taste test) but then finally remembered, so we purchased & were out the door
No tour of the facility, no invitation to linger or ask about their wines — it was do your tasting & make your purchase but by all means, get out
W/​no opportunity to enjoy the establishment or hear any details about their wines, we left thinking: Gosh, were we even there?

Second stop of our Sonoma County Russian River Valley wine tasting tour brought us to Merry Edwards (
). Having enjoyed a Merry Edwards pinot noir at a restaurant, we made it on our list for a future wine tasting trip.
We arrived for our 11am tasting reservations and we were met by Lori and the four of us were seated in a private room for our tasting. Lori was very informative and gave us a history of Merry Edwards and how she worked in the wine industry and eventually opened her winery, Merry Edwards. She is known as a pioneer in the wine country.
We tasted four pinot noirs and a sauvignon blanc, a new varietal for the winery. Lori poured each pinot into the glasses in front of us. She had us taste each of the pinots. Then she asked us to eat a piece of cheese that was in front of us and taste the wine again. As she said, the taste of the wine helped soften up the pinots. Then she poured the sauvignon blanc to finish off our tasting. Not as dry as the usual sauvignon blanc and it had a nice light, sweet taste. (
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The one hour tasting experience was very informative and was an educational seminar. The pinots were just as delicious as I remembered when I had it at the restaurant. A great wine tasting experience.
If you don’t have a reservation for a private tasting, they do have walk-​up tastings.