Four Critics Scored It.
The People Went Higher.

Dear Artisans,

In the eighteen years we have been open, no white wine has been asked for more often than this one. Not asked about — asked for, by the case, by name, by customers who had tasted it somewhere and wanted it at home. For most of those eighteen years I had to tell them no.

Merry Edwards was winery-direct. You bought it in Sebastopol or you did not buy it, with exceptions carved out for Oakville Grocery and a handful of restaurants good enough to hold an allocation. That was the entire distribution list, and no amount of asking on my part moved it an inch.

What changed was not the wine. In February 2019, Merry Edwards Winery was bought by Louis Roederer — yes, the Champagne house behind Cristal. We have spent years building a real relationship with Roederer, and that relationship is the only reason a door which had been shut to us for a decade and a half finally opened.

She is one of California’s first women winemakers — full stop. She began at Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1974, became the founding winemaker at Matanzas Creek in 1977, and stayed until 1984 before building her own house in the Russian River. Our client William says it better than I can, and I have quoted him in full further down. Her history precedes her own winery by a quarter of a century.

Which brings us to the part that surprises people.

This is not a Sauvignon Blanc that tastes like Sauvignon Blanc. Heidi von der Mehden ferments it in French oak barrels and stirs the lees twice a week, which is what you do to a serious white Burgundy — and almost never what anyone does to this grape. Six months sur lie, fifteen percent new oak. No cat-pee here. It is lush, tropical, barrel-broadened and still bright, and it reliably converts people who have publicly announced they are finished with the variety.

Four critics have reviewed the 2024 so far and they landed at ninety-four, ninety-three, ninety-two and ninety-two. Antonio Galloni was straight about the year: 2024 ran warm, which pushes the fruit forward and the varietal edge back a touch. I would rather tell you that than pretend otherwise. If you like this wine for its plushness, and most people do, the warm year is working in your favour.

Here is the honest version of the value argument, without inventing a wine list to prove it. A Russian River Sauvignon Blanc scoring at this level routinely runs two and a half to three times retail on a fine-dining list. That is ordinary restaurant markup rather than a scandal, and it is why a bottle like this lands north of a hundred dollars by the time a somm has carried it to your table.

By the glass at a decent wine bar you are looking at twenty-two to twenty-eight dollars for five ounces. Two glasses out costs more than the whole bottle costs here. That is the entire pitch, and every number in it is one you can check yourself.

All four reviews,
word for word.

The critics are one thing.
Here is what drinkers said.

Critics taste in flights, in the morning, spitting — everyone else drinks the bottle over dinner and then says what they actually think. On CellarTracker the 2024 is pulling 93 to 96 points from people who paid for it, which is a notch above where the professionals landed.

The top note reads “absolutely delicious, flavorful and smooth. One of the best Sauvignon Blancs in my cellar.” My favourite is further down, from a drinker in the middle of a heatwave: “It is hot and a bit humid here and this bottle was the perfect antidote. Tart, tasty, pure, and cleansing of the palate and the soul.” No critic is allowed to write that sentence. It is also the most accurate review in the file.

Grapefruit blossom and pear on the nose, flecked with slivered almond and a little fresh-cut grass, then mango, papaya and green pear behind them. The palate is where the barrel work shows: plush, full-bodied and silky, with ripe apricot, star fruit and guava, a dash of white pepper, and just enough suggestion of sweetness to make it dangerous on a warm evening. Bright, juicy acidity underneath keeps the whole thing upright.

Galloni found slate and chalk in it. Tasting Panel found slivered almond and white pepper. Suckling found seaweed, which sounds alarming and is in fact exactly the saline snap that stops a wine like this from turning into fruit punch. Those are not words anyone uses about ordinary Sauvignon Blanc, and that is the entire point of this one.

30 Bottles · Arriving Tomorrow

Six More Sauvignon Blancs
That Have No Business Being This Good.

Hourglass Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Jeb Dunnuck and James Suckling both put it at ninety-four — and they got there by different routes. Dunnuck heard lime, ripe citrus, mint and stony minerality, and called the mouthfeel “bright, fresh, focused, pure” with outstanding length. Suckling went straight to “divine and mineral-driven” and picked out white pepper, lime leaves and jalapenos.

Six months of ageing with thirty percent in barrel, and lees stirring for mid-palate weight. Underneath the citrus there is lemongrass, fresh-cut hay, honeyed graham cracker and a wet-stone streak that runs the length of it. At thirty-four ninety-seven this is the best value on the page and it is not particularly close.

Aperture Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Jesse Katz worked at Petrus and Screaming Eagle before founding Aperture in 2009 — and this wine is his answer to Haut-Brion Blanc. Estate Semillon and sauvignon musque from Russian River, sauvignon blanc from Dry Stack in Bennett Valley and Farrow Ranch in Alexander Valley. Barrel programme runs thirty percent new French oak, thirty percent once-used, twenty-five neutral and fifteen percent cement.

Wine Enthusiast gave it 94 and Editor’s Choice, and finished the note with four words: “This is among the best Sauvignon Blancs out there. Period.” Decanter matched the 94 and catalogued Haut-Brion barrels with acacia-wood toasted heads. Dunnuck made three. Six critics reviewed it and the lowest score was a 92.

Rudd "Crossroads" Mt. Veeder Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Mountain fruit, farmed organically and biodynamically, made by the Rudd Estate team. Seven separate hand picks over ten days starting on the nineteenth of August. The ageing is the interesting part: forty percent neutral French oak, forty-four percent concrete, ten percent new oak and six percent terracotta amphorae.

Suckling gave it ninety-four and named the reason: “A touch of reduction plus a mountain site and varied fermentation vessels make this a refreshing, mineral white.” Lemongrass, key lime, guava and wild honey, with wet stone underneath and a brioche note on the finish. Rudd’s own suggestion is oysters in Sausalito — which is showing off, but they are not wrong.

Lail Vineyards "Blueprint" Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Robin Lail is about as close to Napa royalty as the valley gets. Her great-great-grandfather founded Inglenook. She spent five years as Robert Mondavi’s personal assistant, left in 1982 to co-found Dominus with Christian Moueix, co-founded Merryvale with Bill Harlan the year after, and only then started her own place. Philippe Melka makes the wine.

Guava, sweet pea, citrus peel and lemongrass, then a creamy texture carrying green apple, melon and Bosc pear over bold acidity. Galloni called the 2024 “flat-out delicious” and Suckling found crushed stones under the citrus. Melka’s own verdict was that it is one of the best Blueprints they have made.

Cliff Lede Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Cliff Lede farms sixty acres in Stags Leap District with David Abreu on the vineyards and Michel Rolland consulting, and makes exactly two wines: Cabernet and this. Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and old-vine Musque clone from Calistoga, Stags Leap and Carneros, hand-picked at night, whole-cluster pressed, then fermented eighty-six percent in French oak with occasional batonnage.

Decanter gave the 2024 ninety-four and made a point of the year: “They’ve truly captured freshness and minerality despite the warmer vintage.” Lime flower, grapefruit and elderflower up front, then kiwi and lychee melting into a creamy mid-palate with orange marmalade, toasted brioche and crushed almond on a long finish.

Mauritson Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Six generations of Mauritsons have farmed Dry Creek since 1868. This comes off two blocks at Hardie Ranch on gravel and sand along the creek, hand-harvested, whole-cluster pressed, then split between stainless steel and seventy-five hectolitre oak foudre. The house calls the result Sancerre-styled — and for once that is not marketing.

Erin Brooks gave it ninety-three for the Wine Advocate and found peach, tarragon, white pepper and flint over “compelling flinty streaks” and a long, shimmery finish. Candied lime, white hyacinth and wet stone, with gala melon underneath. A thousand cases exist and it costs nineteen ninety-seven.

A wine you used to have to
sit down somewhere to drink.

Thirty-six bottles land tomorrow. Six are already spoken for against orders I could not fill, which leaves thirty bottles on the floor for everyone else. It is not a huge allocation and it is the one we have.

Four critics, none below 92. Drinkers scoring it higher than the critics did. A winemaker who has been at this since 1974, and a bottle that spent most of its life unavailable to anybody not sitting in a dining room. Forty-four ninety-nine. Buy two — whoever you open the first one with is going to ask where you got it.

Cheers,

— James Tran

30 Bottles · $44.99 · Arriving Tomorrow

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