Winemaker Notes
A beautiful color and density invite the senses to explore this Williams Selyem Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir which offers a mix of red and black fruits and layers of wood spices and flowers. This classic Pinot Noir from the Middle Reach Neighborhood exhibits notes of earth, crushed rocks, hints of sassafras, and black tea that are layered together to offer complexity. The palate showcases, zesty acidity with minerals and refined tannins along with flavors of citrus and red fruits. This is an elegant and refined wine that will benefit from a few years of ageing.
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesA gorgeous floral bouquet of rose and lavender leads the way to a core of crisp pomegranate, crushed rock and black tea in this fresh, energetic wine. There’s a distinct depth and sophistication to the texture and body, and a memorable citrus-like brightness that persists on the palate.
The 2019 Pinot Noir Estate Vineyard comes from Pommard, Swan and Mt Eden clone vines. Medium ruby, it has a well of aromas, segueing from cranberry, pomegranate and rhubarb, to tones of orange peel, forest floor, wild mint and iron. Medium-bodied, it offers intense, sweet berry fruits on a slender, powdery frame, with bursts of fresh acidity and a very long finish with a flourish of spicy accents. It has potential to develop in the cellar over the next decade, but it's hard to resist all that upfront, youthful fruit.
A pleasant mix of aromas of ripe red fruit and berries and earthy spice and bark. Medium-to full-bodied with velvety tannins. The harmony between dark fruit and spice continues on the palate, together with additional layers of wet-stone minerality. Very good intensity throughout the long finish. Really well done and refined. Drink after 2024.
The 2019 Pinot Noir Williams Selyem Estate Vineyard is a touch more introspective at first glance and warrants time in the glass to unfurl, when it gives way to sun-ripened cherry, sassafras, and violets. The palate has gripping structure with fresh acidity to match and reveals notes of cranberry cocktail, rocky earth, and fresh herbs.
Taut, featuring a savory aroma and flavors of gunflint, dried damson plum and currant, with accents of dried blueberry carrying through to the end. The finish is accented by forest floor. Drink now
Williams Selyem Winery began as a simple dream of two friends, Ed Selyem and Burt Williams, who pursued weekend winemaking as a hobby in 1979 in a garage in Forestville, California, and made their first commercial vintage in 1981. In less than two decades, Burt and Ed created a cult-status winery of international acclaim. Together they set a new standard for Pinot Noir winemaking in the United States, aligning Sonoma County's Russian River Valley in the firmament of the best winegrowing regions of the world. Today John and Kathe Dyson, who purchased the winery from Burt and Ed in 1998, carry on the passion for Pinot Noir winemaking without compromise. As for the wines... they just keep getting better and better.
While the Russian River Valley is a large appellation with multiple climate zones and soil types, it is best known for cool-climate varieties, with Pinot Noir as the most celebrated. The grapes benefit from a reliable late afternoon flow of Pacific Ocean fog through the Petaluma Gap and along the Russian River Valley that ensures slow and steady ripening and the preservation of grape acidity. Today many of California’s most highly regarded Pinot Noir vineyards are in the Russian River Valley, along with its sub-appellation, Green Valley.
Historically Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs had bright red fruit and delicate earthy, mineral notes. But changes in viticultural and winemaking practices have led to stylistic changes in some of the region’s wines. Adjustments to canopy management, among other techniques, have resulted in riper fruit and bolder wines as well. These show flavors of black cherry, blackberry, cola, spice and darker, loamy earth tones, accenting traditional Pinot Noir notes of strawberry, raspberry and light cherry.