Sustainable Sips: Crafting Wine with Purpose at Merriam Vineyards

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Summary

In this episode, Laurie Forster talks with William Weese, winemaker at Merriam Vineyards, to explore the deep roots of his winemaking philosophy. From his global journey to Sonoma’s rich terroir, William shares how family, sustainability, and a love for the land shape every bottle he creates. They dive into organic and biodynamic practices, the beauty of minimal intervention, and why Merlot is making a comeback. With reflections on Pinot Noir, sulfites, and the magic of small-lot production, this episode is a celebration of wine as both craft and connection — a story of taste, time, and terroir. 

Wines Tasted

Merriam Vineyards 2022 Danielle's Estate Fume Blanc

Merriam Vineyards 2022 Diana's Estate Pinot Noir

Merriam Vineyards 2021 Windacre Vineyard Merlot

Takeaways

• Traveling globally enriched William's winemaking philosophy.
• Organic and biodynamic practices are essential at Merriam Vineyards.
• Sulfites are a natural part of the winemaking process.
• Biodynamics enhances the natural ecosystem of the vineyard.
• Merlot is making a strong comeback in the wine industry.
• Every vintage presents unique challenges and opportunities.
• Taste is the ultimate guide in determining grape readiness.

Find out more about Merriam Vineyards and William Weese HERE

Transcript

Laurie Forster (00:01.343)
All right, William, welcome to The Sipping Point.

William Weese (00:04.429)
Thank you for having me. It's pleasure.

Laurie Forster (00:06.223)
Awesome. I'm so excited. I know you're dialed in straight from Sonoma over there and in the offices there at Merriam Vineyards, but I'm excited to talk to you about all things that you do there, wine and organic viticulture, biodynamics, but I always find it fascinating to learn about winemakers and where they started from because most of us don't grow up and say, hey, one day I'm going to be a winemaker.

I'm just very curious, how did you come to the world of wine?

William Weese (00:38.521)
And it's funny you say that because at the same time, I've never saw myself going into wine at an early age, early, early age. As a winemaker, I did decide in high school. That's what I wanted to do. It was being raised here in Sonoma County. I was fortunate enough to go to a high school that a lot of the families in the area had their children at the same high school that were in the wine industry.

became a, looking at a way of a lifestyle. And it was a lifestyle choice in that, you know, we get to drink wine. Family is really important to me. And so having dinners every single night with my family, wine was a big part of it. My friends' families, same kind of concept. And so it was one of those, I love to create things. And so in high school, I decided, it kind of just fits perfectly that if I can create something that brings people together to share laughter.

share a meal together and spend time together. That was something that really intrigued me. So I really wanted to pursue that path from that time.

Laurie Forster (01:48.703)
Well, that's great. So you really did want that from a young age and that's exciting. And I always say the closer you get to the actual grapes, the cooler the people are. mean, I know what, you know, there's some parts of my industry where, you know, people can have attitude, but I find if you always go to the vineyards, that's where you always feel at home and you feel comfortable. And the lifestyle you described sounds like one that a lot of people are drawn to, you know, everybody, everybody can't be a winemaker.

William Weese (01:51.929)
Pretty much.

Laurie Forster (02:17.961)
but we can live vicariously through you. So I know you've made wine all over the world. You have experience and you brought that to Merriam Vineyards. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about what you did before Merriam and then I wanna hear a little bit more about what attracted you to be the winemaker there.

William Weese (02:36.259)
Yeah, so I took kind of an interesting path on becoming a winemaker also. I went to college for agricultural business because I really wanted to learn the business side of the industry and kind of knowing how to use numbers to your benefit and then kind of reinforce it afterwards. So as an ag business major, you were required to do a work study. And so I took a whole semester off to do harvest here in Dry Creek Valley and kind of really just reinforced that.

this is what I want to do. I loved every minute of it. The long days, the hours, intense work. It was so fulfilling to watch something go from a grape all the way to this beautiful wine that's out of a barrel and aged and the whole process. So, kind of fell in love with it. After that, I decided to go finish school and then...

I like to learn hands-on and so the best approach to going about that is to kind of travel the world. You can kind of get two harvests in a year because we have the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. So I did another harvest in Dry Creek and then went to New Zealand, then I went to France, then I went to Chile, and then I went to Napa and kind of bounced around and learning from other winemakers on their philosophy and their approaches and all along the way, no one's really recreating the wheel.

concept of making wine is very basic and in a way it will just make itself on its own. It won't be good but it will actually do it on its own. But really honing in on doing it well and nurturing a product that's already been growing for you know the entire growing season throughout the year and just kind of guiding it.

was kind of my approach that I gathered from everybody else and is less is more. And so kind of just taking a grape and really kind of showcasing that sense of terroir. And so that really kind of intrigued me into trying to building the characters that you see in the wines that you know, we'll taste today and everything and trying to elevate them without doing too much to manipulate them. I think that that's really important is that we try not to manipulate or change the structure of the wines.

Laurie Forster (04:47.242)
Mm-hmm.

William Weese (04:54.573)
we really wanted to showcase that sense of place. And Sonoma County is a beautiful place. Merriam Vineyards is a great place that has so much going on and so much life in there. it really reinforces, know, my studies also were kind of really based off of organic, bio-dynamic and sustainable. I think that that is really important in growing grapes and in making wine and product. So kind of all the studies around really kind of a...

help me gather what I wanted to see in a wine and kind of help me look into the taste profiles that suit me. I make wines based off of how I like to drink them and hope that everybody else likes it.

Laurie Forster (05:37.843)
Yeah. And it sounds like even families where, you know, the kids grew up in the business, the families tend to send them away to go work at these other wineries in different countries because it seems it's so important to get those different points of view, see what other countries are doing, other wineries, and just learn from different people and then bring that all back together. You know, now what you do is kind of culminate that together at Merriam Vineyards.

So let's go ahead and because we have three wines that you shared with me and I want to make sure we get to all three. Let's go ahead and talk about the Fumé Blanc, which was the first wine that you sent your white and made with Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, know, classic blend for a white Bordeaux, if you want to think of it that way, but also in California for Fumé Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, gosh.

is so popular today, way more than it ever was, right? I don't know if it's unseated Pinot Grigio as the top white these days, but it's pretty close. So what is your vision? people know they already like Sauvignon Blanc, but they're like, hmm, Fumé Blanc, what do we have going on here? What is your style?

William Weese (07:00.013)
Yeah, so I mean, it kind of comes full circle to everything that I was doing on my travels also. I went to New Zealand, is very predominantly Sauvignon Blanc. And so kind of really gathered some information on looking into the varietal on its own. But then after that, I followed it up by going to France and I was in Bordeaux when I was doing that. And I was actually fortunate enough that the winery or the chateau that I worked at, their family owned a barrel of cooperage And so...

I kind of looked into more on what you're seeing here. When you're a cooperage you love oak, right? So you want more people to have more barrels and everything. So when I got done with working harvest, I got to go travel around, go to all the great chateaus that are in the area, but we always tasted new barrels. And we went to a couple of areas that were predominantly Sauvignon Blanc and tasting Sauvignon Blanc and 100 % new oak.

really was kind of eye-opening to me in the way that like I really like this this is really nice it's really not aggressive but in the way that like it's very mouth-drying and it's something that would need some age to it but then looking into coming back here Fume Blanc was kind of picking up you know Robert Mondavi introduced it into into the area where Fumé is just is a term for an oaked wine so it can be a number of different

white varietals that are just put into oak and aged for a certain amount of time. But I focused on what we have here also was Sauvignon Blanc, but then knowing the Bordeaux kind of style above white wines, we have about 90 vines of Semillon on property also. And so putting that blend together is always really fun. Just a small little amount, you know, and it's kind of like being a chef, just adding your nice little finishing touches to these things. So we...

We put together this nice wine that we actually ferment the Sauvignon Blanc and the Sauvignon separately, but we ferment them in barrel. And so we press straight to barrel and then the fermentation takes place in there and then we age them for about 10 to 11 months before we bottle it up. But what really happens is it kind of caramelizes some of the flavors. So even though you have the nice bright acidity on the wine, you get a little bit more of oxygen going in there, it tames things down. It's not gonna be...

William Weese (09:24.095)
as sharp as a stainless steel Sauvignon Blanc would be. And it's got a little age behind it. And so usually when we have age going through there on a white wines, we don't have a lot of skin tannin, even though Sauvignon Blanc is a thick skin grape varietal. So adding that extra tannin into the wine creates ageability for the wine. So this wine actually does really well over the next couple of years rather than having a quicker flip on a Sauvignon Blanc that was just done in stainless steel.

Laurie Forster (09:29.972)
Right?

Laurie Forster (09:52.373)
Yeah, and it has a little bit more roundness, obviously, than you would see on a Sauvignon Blanc without the oak, without the semillon there. So you can think about maybe some bigger pairings. I don't know your favorite food. Speaking of chefs, my husband's a chef. So we love the whole food and wine together and finding the right pairing for the right wine. so this, you know, you could see this with a meatier fish or your white meats. It just allows you a little bit

William Weese (10:08.022)
Cool.

William Weese (10:18.635)
Thank

Laurie Forster (10:21.543)
more than kind of the straight seafood route that you think of, you know, with some lighter sauvignon blancs.

William Weese (10:27.657)
Yeah, 100 % and then even on that side where, know, just they bring all the different places that I've been to into Prickshire, but like Chile, it's the whole country's on the coast, you know? And so it's one of these things that like seafood is really important. so seeing how wines were paired with different meals really kind of goes into the back of your head on what kind of direction you can see these going and.

And again, every wine serves its own purpose, right? And so there's certain things that you would want to pair with them, but some things that could be, you know, not the normal actually pair really well with it also. So, but yeah, a lot of fish does really well with this seafood in general, but sushi does really well with it also. But I have had it, I had it on, I had it on Sunday and you know, I had it with, you know, some grilled chicken.

and some lamb chops and it actually pairs really well. It does really nice. It kind of cuts through some of that fattiness there because it's got a little bit of acidity and it's refreshing. And on a nice warm day when you're out with family and everything, it's always fun to pop.

Laurie Forster (11:23.903)
Nice.

Laurie Forster (11:35.177)
That's great. And you mentioned organic, sustainable and biodynamic, which I know there's a lot there. We could do two hours worth of podcasts, but let's just start with organic. If folks are looking at your bottle, you know, picking up a Merriam online or joining your club, you know, how can they tell that it's organic from the bottle? Just looking at the bottle and what do they know that you're doing in the vineyard?

William Weese (11:41.849)
There's a lot.

Laurie Forster (12:05.19)
that's good for the wine and good for me as the wine drinker.

William Weese (12:08.481)
Yeah, no, it's great to talk about this because so Merriam Vineyards has been farming organically for 15 years, which is a long time. And that's something that, you know, I feel like we were ahead of the curve in the way of farming organic and actually putting the extra time and effort into what we're growing and what we're putting into the land. And it was recently that when I came here, I've been here for about five years at Merriam Vineyards.

we certified the winery organic. So there's this side of things that people don't see that's that even though the vineyard certified organic to produce a wine that says made with organic grapes on the back of the label, the winery actually has to be a handler and we have to certify it. So we did certify it. We've gone through all the steps. We are now producing wines that are made with organic grapes certified on the back of the label. And we're really proud of that. It's a lot of work and it's a lot of...

you know, thought that goes into what goes into the vineyard and what goes into the winery and what's happening. And I think that, you know, the consumer should recognize that going forward in the way that like, yeah, we want, we want a clean wine, right? We want something that's good for you. And I know there's a lot of things going on in the world that people, you know, like talk about how it's all going, but these wines are as about as natural as it's going to be. And so having that, having that thought of, of

Laurie Forster (13:24.671)
Right.

William Weese (13:38.669)
You know, we're not, I always like to say we don't paint by numbers here. And so it's not on April 1st, we go through and we prune, right? We're letting mother nature kind of tell us when things are ready. And so we're always boots on the ground out in the vineyard. And when you're walking a vineyard all the time, you want to feel good about walking the vineyard and knowing that you're not walking through a bunch of pesticides and a bunch of things that are trying to kill off everything. I have my dog all the time. You know, we have all kinds of animals on property.

And you know, we're concerned about everybody's life, you know, and so farming organic is really kind of a labor of love and kind of a tribute back to Mother Nature and giving back to the land. I like to see bugs in the soil, you know, that's really good. You know, that's more carbon coming out of the air that's going back into the soil. You know, we have all these things that can rectify a lot of the bad problems that we had. And just moving forward, just not knowing that.

We're not spraying any Roundup on the ground and know, like, and stuff that's just, we know that it's not good for us, isn't getting leached into it and then going into the grapes, which it turns into the wine and then that's what you consume. So when it's certified organic, it really is a statement of passion and wines that are clean and good for you.

Laurie Forster (15:04.403)
And will it say that on every bottle or it's more about knowing the vineyard and knowing that the vineyard is certified?

William Weese (15:07.36)
It

Yeah, so we are in the, have here certified at the winery right here. have 11 acres. We have Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon that are certified on property. Moving forward, we are taking all of our other wines made with organic grapes. But again, there's a life cycle on the wines. We age them in barrel and so it takes a little bit longer for these to be released. This is a new product that we are certified the winery.

and the wines recently. So our 24s will definitely have made with organic grapes on there. Some of the 23s will have it on there. And then moving forward, we're just, taking them all in that direction. And, know, the Merriam are just great people and they just really care about this area and it's good to us and we want to be good to it.

Laurie Forster (15:50.165)
Perfect.

Laurie Forster (16:01.555)
I love that. And it made me think of something. And I just want you to help me to dispel this myth that people have. I noticed on the bottle, it says contain sulfites, which every wine does because that's part of the fermentation process. And then many producers use a tiny bit more to preserve the wine. So it doesn't turn color or grow bacteria. But there is a myth amongst consumers that I keep trying to shoot down that

European wine, so wines made in France or Italy don't have any sulfites, but in America, we just love to throw the sulfites on there like crazy. Can you help me dispel this myth since you've made wine in both places?

William Weese (16:44.993)
Yeah, so no, there's going to be everywhere's got different regulations also of what the government's like telling you that you need to put onto a Sulfites are very common in the way that like it's just it's an antioxidant also. So it's something that goes into to preserve the wines. There are different like even getting into what we just talking about on organic. There are certain levels that you have to stay underneath to be able to put made with organic grapes on the back of the label.

So everywhere is like you're just playing You're utilizing what you can and can't do and so but at the same time I think I'm pretty sure a glass of orange juice has more sulfites than a glass of red wine So it's one of those things that you know, even though it's on the label right up in front of you You know, like people like to think that you know, that's why their headaches are coming and they're getting here this and me personally I don't think that that's the main culprit behind it but

Laurie Forster (17:28.415)
Right.

William Weese (17:42.585)
I do think that, you know, like it's important to a certain degree, you know, you don't want to take the levels way too high and then, you know, like it would ruin the wine. And so we're using very minimal amounts, but we're trying to create something that that'll last a long time. It does go out into the vineyards and know there's the salt and that's worldwide also. That is something that, you know, is a common practice. It is something that can protect it. Sulfur is very natural. It comes from, from the ground. And so it's one of those products that we can utilize.

So that we're not putting unnatural products that are you know? Pesticides out into the vineyard and we protect the crop and the wines with it, so

Laurie Forster (18:21.983)
Love that. And when I think about Sonoma, of course, I think about Pinot Noir. And that is one of the two reds that you sent for me to try. So I'm excited about that. Let's talk about this Pinot Noir. And then maybe we can also, after tasting it, talk a little bit about how biodynamics is different from organic and just so people can kind of visualize what that means.

William Weese (18:48.088)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (18:49.365)
I'm excited. I'm a huge Pinot Noir fan and I was excited that you're sharing this one with us.

William Weese (18:55.117)
Yeah, Peter Mariam is a Pinot Noir fan also. So when he actually, when he bought the property here, he originally started with Windacre Vineyard, which is our estate vineyard down the street. Less than, it's about a half a mile down the road. That was the original vineyard that the Mariam family came out to purchase when they're, they're from the East coast. And so they came out to visit and they purchased the vineyard, wanted to get into wine. It was, I guess we'll get into that on the next wine, but it was Merlot dominant. It was Merlot Vineyard.

But being in Sonoma County and Peter really enjoyed Pinot Noir, when he bought the property here to build the winery, the first thing that he wanted to plant was Pinot Noir. So we have about five acres here on property that are certified organic. There's five different clones of Pinot Noir in there. And it's really just a beautiful Pinot Noir that's situated in the northern tip of Russian River. And so why that's important is that

The Russian River is the gateway to the coast and so then version later so the fog comes rolling in on the Russian River and then it also retreats back out on that same river and so the further up you go Usually usually means that we're getting nice cool mornings cool evenings But at the same time we get the most sun exposure So the fog is rolled out and we're seeing the Sun first and you know, we're talking like hours makes differences, right? So we're doing degree days on how many hours you get

So having that extra, you know, one, two hours a day of sunshine really changes the profile of the wines. We have Clones 667, 777, 115, Pommard and 23. So really looking at kind of like a Dijon style Pinot Noir. We have a Swiss Winelun 23, but it is great to have those because even though they're all Pinot Noir, they have different characteristics and kind of going back to where we were talking about being a chef, you know.

There are certain qualities, there are attributes of each one of the clones that really come together. So we're looking for a blend that kind of harmonizes. And so if we have something that's a little bit more spice on the 777 where there's gonna be a little bit more red fruit on 115. So all these things go into my head when we ferment them all separately and then barrel age them separately and then we put together a blend. Even though this is a single vineyard, a lot of extra time and attention goes into

Laurie Forster (20:53.545)
Mm-hmm.

William Weese (21:22.649)
creating this blend for this wine and it really showcases the area and the organics that we're doing here. It has a lot of different things, a lot of complexity to it. So like first sip to last sip, it's going to keep on evolving in your glass and that's all by design. yeah, the Pinot here.

Laurie Forster (21:36.201)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (21:41.853)
And in pretty small production, only 200 cases, I believe, I was reading.

William Weese (21:45.593)
Only 200 cases, yeah. We do a lot of small lots. We have a lot of different wines that we produce here, but a lot of things that, I mean, small winery as well. And it's one of those things that we do a lot, even though we have X amount of wines, there's exponentially more varietals and lots and different things that we do. try to ferment, we do a lot of little small lot fermentations and barrel aging. And then most of the wines, even though they're single varietal, will be blended based off

taste and going through and analyzing each one barrel by barrel and putting together a blend that tastes really good together.

Laurie Forster (22:23.925)
And it does, this is delicious. And I had the pleasure of an Oregon at a winery. We got to taste five different clones separately. And then we were all allowed to make our own blend of the clones, which was really interesting because, you know, each of us did kind of, you know, we're attracted to, you know, some liked the Pomard clone more, some like the 667, but it really.

You think, well, it's all peanut butter in the bottle. This isn't a blending experience, but it really is a blending exercise because you're blending those different clones of that grape so that you get the right taste. And this is delicious.

William Weese (23:02.777)
We do do two blending seminars throughout the year for our wine club members also. So it's one of those things that we kind of like give back to the wine club is that the experience of going through that. Because again, a lot of people just get the bottle and they don't get to like actually see like all the little things that go into creating that wine. And I do think that it's really fun to, you know, see wine club members come in and look at the wines and taste the different clones separately and then try to together their own blend.

And it really hits home on how subjective, know, the whole industry, like exactly what you're saying. Some people will love 6, 6, 7 by itself. And then some people, you know, they'll like them like this and then their blends are always in like, they like it that way. And like, that's, that's great. These are wines that we create here in Merriam. Definitely the thought goes into everybody that's going to be consuming them. And, but at the same time, like I really do try to put together wines that,

Laurie Forster (23:34.473)
Mm-hmm.

William Weese (23:58.499)
fit my passion and my taste profile and hopefully other people will like

Laurie Forster (24:03.923)
Yeah, this is really balanced and very elegant and I love that. know, all of the different components are working together. Speaking of that, biodynamics. And I know biodynamics, you know, I always say it's like organics on steroids. It's kind of like a religion. People don't really understand all the things, burying the horns within manure and all these different preparations.

If you were to explain to someone who's visiting the vineyard or listening today how biodynamics is incorporated at Merriam Vineyards, give us some examples of how that works.

William Weese (24:40.781)
Yeah, so I we are not certified by biodynamic, but we do have some practices that go on here. you know, biodynamics is really kind of based off of, you know, a thought process that everything naturally occurring has effects on everything else. And so we can utilize, you know, mother nature and utilize the bugs. We can utilize the animals to accomplish the tasks that we're doing.

I wouldn't say more efficiently with technology, but at the same time, is a natural way and progression that we can focus on. There are times of the year where, I mean, we have seasons, right? We go through summer, spring, fall, winter, and everybody feels them, but they're not really taken into consideration. it's like, the earth is spinning, there is a moon that goes, there's grass, we have a tide that goes up and down.

All these little things that are just something that we just live with every day have effects on how plants are grown. There's reasons that the grapes go into dormancy throughout the year. And so there's times that it's really focused on strengthening the roots. so taking all this calendar that has been put together and utilizing the cow horns and the different teas that you can put out there and the silicas that you can use that are prism based that can actually promote

you know, a little bit more sunshine to go to the leaves to ripen the fruit, you know, like all the little things that go into it. Um, but it's, it's, it's, it's a lot of work. I mean, it takes, that is, that is, you know, what we're, what Merriam does here, you know, on organic and like, the practices that we do utilize, um, is great, but like that organic takes it to another level of, of, of really trying to, um, really do nothing out there except that anything that's

Laurie Forster (26:17.333)
Hey

William Weese (26:35.769)
totally natural. It can put you at a little risk, but at the same time, there's a lot of cool benefits that can come from it. And again, it really does build back, in my opinion, an ecosystem. You basically create your own ecosystem inside your farm. So the concept of the cows eating the plants on the ground in there and then putting it back into the soil creates this kind biodynamic

kind of culture that starts to grow and so it's something that you can create a lot of health in your vineyard and then and recycle and reuse and so it's a lot but it's it's really beautiful when done right.

Laurie Forster (27:19.049)
Lovely, and it is beautiful. Obviously, folks can go to MerriamVineyards.com and check out your wine club or if they're gonna be out in Sonoma for a visit next time. I was out two falls ago, but I'll have to next time I'm out there. I definitely wanna get out there and see it in person now that I'm tasting the wine. All right, so your last wine comes from a very special vineyard. I think you said it was one of the first vineyards that

William Weese (27:47.767)
It is the first. So this is our Windacre Vineyard Merlot. Yeah, and just reinforcing what you were saying about coming out and visiting, we actually just finished up a outdoor courtyard. So we did a kind of outdoor remodel. And so a lot of things have changed in the last couple of years. And so it's really a, it's a really fun tasting, really fun experience. mean, especially, you know, with the property being organic and you just, it looks natural.

Laurie Forster (27:48.831)
the Miriams had.

Laurie Forster (28:07.157)
Great.

William Weese (28:14.573)
but being able to sit outside in the courtyard, is overlooking the vineyards, you're surrounded by vineyards and kind of really engulfed with all that Merriam is. And so it's a great tasting experience. They have so many different flights that you can kind of look into. if you're a Pinot lover, if you're a Bordeaux lover, there's a lot of different options for everybody. And I think the wines are pretty good too. So it's worth coming and taking a look.

Laurie Forster (28:38.057)
Yeah, well, so far so good. All right, so tell me a little bit about this Merlot and specifically from this vineyard. I'm assuming now I know we've all seen the movie Sideways where, you know, they won't drink any effing Merlot. But I think that we all kind of laugh at that because at the end of the movie, he's he's drinking the famous Cheval Blanc, which has a lot of Merlot in it. So, you know, Merlot just kind of became the butt of the joke at one point. But

I hear that it's back and it's back strong. So I was excited you sent him or low.

William Weese (29:13.025)
Yeah, no, we're we're believer, I'm a believer in Merlot. It's actually one of my favorite riddles. I do think that that, weird enough, that movie did have an effect that really kind of hurt the Merlot industry in the United States. But at the same time, there are areas that have been Merlot dominant, mainly like Saint-Pamilion and Palmaral, that have been creating beautiful wines for.

hundreds of years and just really kind of focused on that and I think that it got a bad rap. But at the same time, that movie came, so when the Merriam bought the Vineyard, the movie hadn't come out yet and the movie did come out and they watched a lot of their friends around in the area, pull their Merlot out and start planting Pinot Noir. And one of the coolest things when I got here was knowing that the Merriam were dedicated to the Vineyard that they had. They did do some replanting, some more Bordeaux varietals

but never got rid of the Merlot and stayed true to it. know, Peter was a wine shop owner over on the East Coast also and loved, you know, the European Merlots that were coming out of there. And so I think that Merlot, you know, when it's taken care of and nurtured and done right is absolutely stunning. And I do really love this vineyard. And I think that the way that they created it and the way that we go about it and just really giving it the attention that it needs.

hones in on some of those really beauty. It's really kind of more of like a silky kind of style wine, even though it has some structure behind it, it still has a little bit of more of a smoothness, you know, that's something that is more approachable earlier on, even though it can age and it gets better with time. like you kind of, same thing, caramelizes a little bit more as it ages and bottle. But you know, the balance on it and the way that we farm it,

Laurie Forster (30:47.804)
Yes.

Laurie Forster (31:05.693)
Right.

William Weese (31:11.639)
I pick based off of taste, which a lot of people do, know, ways, so numbers are a guideline, but not, it's all about taste. When the wine tastes, when the grapes taste balanced is when we'll make the decision. And for the most part, I think one of the most important things that we can do is to retain that natural acidity, right? So they start out being a bunch of acid, malic and tartaric acid in there. And then as they mature, more sugar accumulates and the acid goes down.

Well, I think that there's a balance instead of taking it too far and trying to get too over extracted. we pick, we pick at a nice, at a at a right point, but at the same time, I want the natural assets on that, add anything back to it. So it's a true reflection of the vineyard on its own. and I think that that, you know, like in this vineyard and being in, in Northern tip of Russian river, going back to what I was talking about, having that extra sun exposure, we still have the cool mornings. And this is a thinner skin.

Laurie Forster (32:06.005)
Mmm.

William Weese (32:08.505)
red wine grape and it benefits from a little bit of a cooler climate. So kind of the best of both worlds and being in this area is having those cool mornings and evenings but then having that plenty of sun exposure. So it always creeps up on me though because it's like you get done with Pinot and you think you have a little bit of time before you have to start harvesting the bigger ones but Merlot is always right behind it.

Laurie Forster (32:11.998)
Right.

Laurie Forster (32:30.195)
Hey

Laurie Forster (32:34.681)
This is delicious and it really does remind me of a right bank Bordeaux, which is where Merlot is more predominant. When I visited there, I know the winemakers expressed similar to you in that you have your tools and you can measure the bricks or the sugar content of the grapes. But they said, I know when it's done, when I taste it and I taste the seed and I taste the grape and I know immediately, no matter what the number is, I can tell.

via taste. So I love that because there is an art and a science to winemaking. So the two kind of have to come together. So it's neat that you do that as well.

William Weese (33:16.089)
And every year is different, you know, and that's the biggest thing is, know, like, I mean, everybody remembers all the different years and what's going on in the vintage and everything, but at the same time, every year is unique and how much, how long was winter? How much rain did we have? You know, how many days over a hundred did we have? All these little things play into the growing season of wine. And you have one shot every year to try to make the best possible wine you can with these grapes. so,

We do do a lot of time in the vineyards and really kind of focus on making sure that they're put in the best position that we can so that we can bring them in and try to make top-notch wine. I really do think that, you know, here at Merriam, we do a great job of finding the balance in the wines and making them, you know, approachable, but at the same time, they have life behind them also. They age really well.

Laurie Forster (33:55.317)
Right.

Laurie Forster (34:10.451)
I agree. And I did a class, this is years ago at the CIA out there in Greystone in Napa. I believe it was Karen McNeil was the one doing the tasting. And it was a blind tasting of Merlots and cabs. And she's like, who here thinks that they can absolutely tell which is the Merlot and which is the cab like right off the bat? And I wasn't brave enough to raise my hand on that one. But a few people did, but

It was amazing how some of these Merlots were actually, you you couldn't say definitively, this is absolutely a Cabin, this is a Merlot, because they can have such great body and character and, you know, different, they're different, but it's amazing how, you know, if you say, I only drink Cabernet Sauvignon, which some people do, I don't know why, you would limit yourself to one grape. But if you didn't know, you know, you probably would be thrilled with this Merlot.

William Weese (35:06.765)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (35:07.061)
Sometimes it's a mindset, I feel like.

William Weese (35:09.881)
It's definitely a mindset. We do do a right bank wine called the right bank, just as a kind of a tribute to the right bank over in Bordeaux also, where we blend in. We have Cab Franc also, and so we do a blend and it turns out really nice as well. But we have two other single varietal, I mean single vineyard Merlot's also. So I really do think Merlot is back and we're really trying to bring it back. And so it's a...

Laurie Forster (35:14.879)
Okay.

Laurie Forster (35:34.217)
Yes, you and I will do it.

William Weese (35:36.857)
It's really I do love the varietal by itself and so we do put a lot of focus into it

Laurie Forster (35:43.187)
Love that. Well, here's a question for you. If you're not drinking your own wines that you make, what can I find you drinking around the dinner table with your family? If it's not Merriam Vineyards, we'll take that off the table. I'm sure you enjoy that quite a lot. But what are you drinking on a normal Wednesday night or Thursday night if you're trying something different?

William Weese (36:04.321)
Yeah, no, I like, I like to try a lot of different things, you know, and so I do have a lot of peers that are, that are friends around here. I do like to explore and see what, what, what they're creating, at the time. And so it kind of seemed, you know, like, you have, you have to try other people's stuff in the way that you want to keep growing as a winemaker, right? So you don't, you don't want to get your kind of house palette where you only think that like, this is the way it can be done. It's fun to see.

how other people are doing things and kind of learn through a glass of wine of like where you could go and what direction you can do. But I do drink a lot of friends wines and know, and without naming a bunch of names and stuff like that, I do think that all the different varietals and kind of all the different wines that are here in Sonoma and Napa. we even, I mean, I like, I like.

Oregon and Washington. like to try everything and see what's being put out there.

Laurie Forster (37:06.42)
That's great. Hopefully you'll have a little trade. I know even when I was in Italy, some of the wineries there had wines from the US that wineries would send to them and they would send their wines here so that it was kind of like a little trade program where you get to taste different wines and learn different things.

William Weese (37:24.377)
I will say though, on talking about that and kudos to them, I did go to Portugal last year for, know, to go see the cork forest and see the harvest and everything. And some of the white wines coming out of Portugal are absolutely fantastic. And it's one of those that, you know, a lot of countries share a lot of varietals that are out there and you know, have them that we, here in the States use a lot of, you know, French varietals and stuff.

Laurie Forster (37:40.404)
Yes.

William Weese (37:52.121)
But in Portugal, they've kept a lot of their riles specifically to their country. And some of the white wines that were coming out of there were absolutely mind blowing. So I mean, if you ever get a chance to try some wines from over there, it's stunning.

Laurie Forster (38:06.323)
I totally agree. went, I think three years ago it is now and I had already tasted some reds here and of course, port, fortified wines, but I was blown away by the whites. Even the sparse, some of the sparkling wines were delicious as well. So I, and they're so unique and you know, it's stuff even in my Psalm training that we didn't study these grapes because we, they just weren't that, you know, that distributed yet, but I agree. It's a, it's a beautiful country and they have beautiful wines.

William Weese (38:34.201)
Beautiful country. Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (38:35.913)
Just like yours. Well, great. Well, this has been so amazing, William. I know. Where can folks go if they want to connect with you and your wines? What's the best way?

William Weese (38:48.409)
Well, best way is to come to the winery here in Sonoma County in Healdsburg. Come do a tasting, let us know that you listen to the podcast and we'll set you up and out here. I'll come and visit with you. But the best way would probably be online, which would be at merriamvineyards.com. And all of our wines are on there. We ship to a lot of different states here in the United States. But come visit. I think that you would really enjoy.

Laurie Forster (39:13.161)
Yeah, that is the best way to learn, isn't it?

William Weese (39:15.757)
Well, it just goes into you need to experience the vineyards that are here that are surrounding and what I've been talking about on being organic and just and seeing how natural things are around here. And then when you taste the wines, you kind of you can put a sense of place into your experience. And that's that's the beauty of wine. There's so many wines that I've had over my life that I remember exactly where I was and what I was drinking. And that's because of the time and the place and the experience that you're having. So.

Having a glass of Merriam wines here at Merriam is definitely the best way to go.

Laurie Forster (39:48.373)
All right, well, I'm putting it on my bucket list now. William, thank you so much for coming on The Sipping Point and sharing these great wines with me. And I just wanted to say, Thank you. Thanks. Don't just, I didn't say.

William Weese (39:57.401)
Cheers. Thank you.

William Weese (40:03.971)
Thank