Longtime Ridge winemaker takes the helm at Napa’s Merus

When Bill Foley purchased Merus, the Napa winery had fallen on hard times. Seeking to raise Merus to the level of Monte Bello in terms of quality and reputation, Foley recruited Ridge winemaker Eric Baugher to take over the cabernet-focused operation.

Baugher left the iconic Cupertino winery in January 2021, after 27 years of making wine with Paul Draper.

A Santa Cruz native who graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1992 with a degree in molecular biology and biochemistry, Baugher thought he might pursue a career in medicine—his father was a dentist—but realized that was not his calling. While wondering what to do with his life, he saw an ad from Ridge in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. They were looking for a chemist. It was 1994. He was one of 200 to apply for the position. The rest is history.

Baugher became head winemaker at Ridge in 2004 and chief operating officer in 2016. While at Ridge, he achieved 100-point scores for the winery’s cabernet and Bordeaux-style blends in 2013 and 2017, twice earning a place on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wine list.

When Baugher arrived at Merus, two things had to be done right away: salvage the 2019 vintage and get fruit lined up for harvest 2021. The 2020 vintage for Merus was completely lost to fire, and the Merus winery barely 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 having a seasoned cellar crew, many 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 team was tight and the accolades plentiful.

Now in this remote corner of Napa, he was literally in a solitary outpost, away from the bustle of Highway 29.  He got to work isolating the best 2019 barrels, working his magic on them, even adding some new American oak barrels to the mix.

“I love Kentucky oak,” he says. “It adds such depth and spice.”

Merus had primarily procured Coombsville fruit in the past. Baugher, accustomed to the intensity of Monte Bello cabernet, wanted mountain fruit for harvest 2021. He was fortunate to obtain cabernet sauvignon grapes from Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain and Penny Lane.

Tasting the 2021 barrel samples he pulled from these vineyards showed the kind of depth and potential that one associates with Monte Bello. When he poured some of these newbies at the recent Collective Napa Barrel Auction, the reaction from the attendees was hugely positive.

With just one harvest under his belt in Napa, Baugher is well on his way to turning Merus around. Consequently, Foley is giving him broader responsibilities, and Baugher will be overseeing all of Foley’s ever-expanding properties in Napa Valley.

The Merus Guest Experience Center and Caves, located at 424 Crystal Springs Road in St. Helena, are now open to our guests by reservation only. To make reservations, email [email protected].

For members at any of Merus’s sister properties or members of the Connoisseur Club, tasting fees start at $150 per person.