When Sukie Honeycutt first tasted Merry Edwards Winery’s Russian River Valley sauvignon blanc at the Sonoma County winery’s tasting room a decade ago, she was captivated. “Most sauvignon blancs tend to be austere, have high minerality, and are sort of edgy, as I call them,” Sukie’s Wine Shop’s co-owner says. But this one, she found, was richly creamy, full-bodied and aromatic.
As the wine lead at Sukie’s (which she owns with Tony Ridgway), the adjacent Bayside Seafood Grill & Bar, Ridgway Bar & Grill and Tony’s Off Third, the self-taught expert has more than 40 years of experience working in restaurants around Naples and managing their wine programs—so she knows a thing or two about quality vinos. When asked to name a favorite, she often returns to Merry Edwards’ sauvignon blanc. Her appreciation was reinforced during a wine dinner in 2019 when she tasted the latest vintage. It had been a few years since Sukie sampled Merry Edwards’ wines, and this one really surprised her. “It’s powerful—it’s like a sauvignon blanc on steroids,” she says.
As one of California’s first female winemakers, Merry Edwards is a pioneer. She consulted for multiple wineries before creating her namesake label in 1997. Over the next decade, she put Russian River pinot noir in the global eye. Now, the roughly heart-shaped Russian River Valley is considered the benchmark for California and New World pinot noir, and other cool-climate varieties.
Merry may be known for terroir-driven, single-vineyard pinots, which hail from 80 acres of estate vineyards. But her barrel-fermented sauvignon blanc, characteristically creamy and rich, shows her strength and ingenuity as a winemaker. Merry developed her style of sauvignon blanc while working as the founding winemaker of Matanzas Creek Winery in the ’80s. In 2004, she launched her Russian River Valley bottle under the Merry Edwards label. “This is a more serious, structural sauvignon blanc,” current winemaker Heidi von der Mehden says. Merry trained Heidi for three years before announcing her as successor in 2018.
Before joining Merry Edwards Winery in 2015, Heidi was making Rhône and Bordeaux varieties in Sonoma. “I enjoyed it, but I was longing to get to the Russian River Valley,” Heidi says. She was connected to Merry through a mutual friend. “It was serendipitous; if you’re going to learn, you want to learn from one of the best,” she adds.
For the first three years as assistant winemaker, Heidi listened, learned and absorbed every part of the winemaking process. She visited vineyards with Merry, talked with vineyard managers and ran most of the behind-the-scenes operations. She saw how Merry’s winemaking process starts in the vineyard, selectively pulling leaves so the grapes develop fruit-forward flavors, with floral and tropical fruit aromas. Unlike most California sauvignon blancs, which are aged in steel, Merry’s is aged on the lees in French oak barrels for five to six months and stirred twice weekly to give it more texture and body. The wine could almost be mistaken for a chardonnay, but the aromas of peaches and melons make it distinctly sauvignon blanc.
Sukie is quick to point out this isn’t a cocktail wine you want to sip: “It’s so rich—it begs for food.” Go for a creamy dish, Sukie says, suggesting a linguine carbonara that can stand up to the wine’s richness.
Sukie carries about 1,500 wine labels between Tony’s Off Third and her eponymous wine shop, including 35 sauvignon blancs from around the world. Merry Edwards’ label is one of Sukie’s few selections from Sonoma, where sauvignon blanc is the second-most popular varietal white wine. As head winemaker, Heidi maintains Merry’s signature style of sauvignon blanc while continuing to push the winery in a sustainable direction.
In addition to helping the winery earn a title as a California Certified Sustainable Winery, Heidi manages projects by sustainability lead, Nick Nash, to reduce wastewater, generate more than 64 percent of electricity use, and manage pests organically through bluebird and owl boxes. “Every day, we’re making little changes for the better,” Heidi says. She initially wanted to study environmental toxicology but switched to a chemistry degree. “I’ve always had this drive to be more sustainable and aware, and now I have two little boys,” she says. “I need to make sure I help leave them a hospitable place to live.”
