Merry Edwards Winery
Merry Edwards made Russian River Pinot Noir for 47 vintages, trained her successor for five years, and retired in February 2020. Esther Mobley says the wines still earn the name.31
Why go
Edwards made her first wine as an amateur in 1970 while taking a physiology degree at Berkeley, then went to UC Davis for a master's in food science with an enology emphasis.3 She made the wine at Mount Eden and Matanzas Creek and consulted for dozens of others before launching her own label in 1997.3 For nearly a decade there was nowhere to taste it; she and her husband Ken Coopersmith opened the winery and tasting room in 2006.3
Heidi von der Mehden has made the wine since 2010. She took a chemistry degree at Santa Clara in 1997, taught high school chemistry in Tanzania with the Peace Corps, came back as a lab technician and then enologist at Kenwood Vineyards, spent three years as assistant winemaker at Mauritson, and worked under Richard Arrowood from 2007.3 Edwards named her successor in 2015 and the two worked side by side until 2020.3
Louis Roederer bought the winery in 2019.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Sauvignon Blanc. Mobley calls it the real white star here,
creamy, rich, layered
against the sharp herbal versions most of the county makes.1 - Order: the Coopersmith Vineyard Pinot Noir, which grows a few yards from the patio you drink it on.1
- Avoid: a late afternoon. Sebastopol runs 9:30am to 4pm and there is no evening service.3
What locals & experts say
- Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, Top Sonoma County Wineries 2025 (14 May 2025):
Merry Edwards has long been synonymous with a certain style of poised, generous Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, and it continues to earn that reputation even after the departure of its longtime owner and winemaker, Merry Edwards herself.
1 - Heidi von der Mehden, on why the winery went north to Anderson Valley (28 August 2026):
Anderson Valley's coastal climate gives us a different expression of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay than what we see in the Russian River Valley, and that contrast has been exciting to explore.
2
Good to know
- Sebastopol is open daily, 9:30am to 4pm, and remains the flagship.32
- Merry Edwards opened a second room in Philo, at 9201 Highway 128 in Anderson Valley, Thursday to Sunday 10am to 5pm, on the site Domaine Anderson vacated in May.2
- You taste outdoors, on a patio ringed with fruit trees that Mobley says earns its shade on a hot Sebastopol day.1
- Call to book. The winery publishes no tasting fee, and the reserve buttons on its own visit page point at unpublished preview links.
Verdict
should-visit — Merry Edwards spent 47 vintages here and then spent five years handing the cellar to Heidi von der Mehden before retiring in February 2020, and Esther Mobley wrote five years later that the house style had held. Go for the Sauvignon Blanc, which Mobley calls creamy, rich and layered where most of the county makes it sharp and herbal. You drink it on a patio under fruit trees with the Coopersmith Vineyard a few yards away. One practical failure holds it short: the winery publishes no tasting fee and its own booking links are broken.