Longtime Ridge winemaker usually takes the helm at Napa’s Merus

When Monthly bill Foley ordered Merus, the Napa vineyard experienced fallen on hard situations. Trying to find to elevate Merus to the stage of Monte Bello in conditions of high-quality and status, Foley recruited Ridge winemaker Eric Baugher to acquire above the cabernet-concentrated procedure.

Baugher still left the iconic Cupertino vineyard in January 2021, immediately after 27 a long time of creating wine with Paul Draper.

A Santa Cruz native who graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1992 with a diploma in molecular biology and biochemistry, Baugher believed he could go after a profession in medicine—his father was a dentist—but realized that was not his calling. Though thinking what to do with his lifestyle, he saw an advert from Ridge in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. They were being hunting for a chemist. It was 1994. He was 1 of 200 to use for the posture. The relaxation is heritage.

Baugher grew to become head winemaker at Ridge in 2004 and chief working officer in 2016. Whilst at Ridge, he realized 100-level scores for the winery’s cabernet and Bordeaux-design blends in 2013 and 2017, 2 times earning a location on Wine Spectator’s Top rated 100 wine listing.

When Baugher arrived at Merus, two things had to be completed appropriate away: salvage the 2019 classic and get fruit lined up for harvest 2021. The 2020 classic for Merus was absolutely lost to fire, and the Merus winery hardly survived the blaze.

In June 2021, he was all by himself in Merus’s cavernous cellar in a cave. At Ridge, he’d been accustomed to possessing a seasoned cellar crew, lots of of whom had been with Ridge for multiple generations. Nurtured by Draper and the affable Wilma Sturrock, who was Ridge’s president at the time of Baugher’s hire, the crew was limited and the accolades abundant.

Now in this distant corner of Napa, he was basically in a solitary outpost, absent from the bustle of Highway 29.  He acquired to operate isolating the ideal 2019 barrels, working his magic on them, even adding some new American oak barrels to the mix.

“I enjoy Kentucky oak,” he states. “It provides this sort of depth and spice.”

Merus experienced generally procured Coombsville fruit in the past. Baugher, accustomed to the depth of Monte Bello cabernet, wanted mountain fruit for harvest 2021. He was privileged to acquire cabernet sauvignon grapes from Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain and Penny Lane.

Tasting the 2021 barrel samples he pulled from these vineyards confirmed the form of depth and potential that just one associates with Monte Bello. When he poured some of these rookies at the current Collective Napa Barrel Auction, the reaction from the attendees was massively favourable.

With just a single harvest beneath his belt in Napa, Baugher is effectively on his way to turning Merus around. As a result, Foley is giving him broader responsibilities, and Baugher will be overseeing all of Foley’s at any time-increasing attributes in Napa Valley.

The Merus Guest Working experience Centre and Caves, located at 424 Crystal Springs Street in St. Helena, are now open to our company by reservation only. To make reservations, electronic mail concierge@meruswines.com.

For associates at any of Merus’s sister homes or customers of the Connoisseur Club, tasting expenses start at $150 for every particular person.