Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Merriam.
Peter, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Native New Englander, grew up in the western mountains of Maine, college in NH, married and now live in Boxford Ma. Started out as a wine enthusiast, and collecting wines, mostly Bordeaux and Burgundy wines from France. Decided to purchase a “package store” near Burlington in the early 90’s. I had some friends from Maine that moved to wine country back in the 70’s and started visiting the wine areas of California in the early 80’s, mostly to see first-hand the wines that were starting to make their way to the east coast. Started looking at some vineyard land in the mid 90’s and settled in on a vineyard in the Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, in the town of Healdsburg. our first vineyard, 12 acres, was planted to all merlot when we purchased it in 2000. The vineyard was one of the oldest vineyards planted back in the late 1800’s. We have now replanted the vineyard over the years to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot, all French Bordeaux style wines.
In 2005, we started the building of our own production facility on another 12 acres, our winery was completed for harvest in 2008, and two other vineyards were planted to Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon in 2009. At this point, most all of our wines that we produce are what we call Estate Grown wines, about 4000cs produced. Our vineyards are sustainably farmed as well as CCOF certified organic growers.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Bottom line, it’s farming, the weather is always a factor year to year. We started off quite small in distribution, mostly in New England, but have ventured out to 14 or so states mostly on the east coast
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Merriam Vineyards – what should we know?
We are farmers first, growing 90% of all our grapes produced, specializing in small lot handcrafted wines at a reasonable price point. Most proud of our accolades, awards amongst our piers and international wine writers.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Paying attention to details, either in the vineyard, or the winemaking. Quality first.
Contact Info:
- Address: 11650 Los Amigos Rd
Healdsburg, Ca 95448 - Website: merriamvineyards.com
- Phone: 707 433 4032
- Email: info@merriamvineyards.com
- Instagram: merriam vineyards
- Facebook: merriam vineyards
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