Williams Selyem Fanucchi-Wood Road Zinfandel 2017
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker -
Wine &
Spirits
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Deep and dark, the wine reveals only a little of what it has to offer at this young age. Boysenberry and fresh cracked Tellicherry peppercorn are immediately obvious on the nose. With air, notes of strawberry confiture and stone fruit emerge, while hints of tamari and hoisin offer a deeper, brooding character. Flavors of boysenberry and black cherry come through the dense palate. The precise and refreshing acidity adds freshness not often found in Zinfandel. Because of the firm tannins and refreshing acidity there is long ageing potential, but this wine can also be enjoyed today with a ribeye steak seared over charcoal with a shishito pepper salsa on the side.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
From a historic site in the heart of the appellation, this hearty red is beautifully laced in flavors of dried plum, earth and spiced cake. There’s an underlying raciness to the acidity that keeps it fresh and focused.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep ruby-purple, the 2017 Zinfandel Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard has a wonderful nose of peach cobbler, blueberry and boysenberry jam, black fruit preserves and floral perfume. Medium to full-bodied with concentrated fruits in the mouth, it has firm, slightly chewy tannins and a long finish packed with spicy layers.
-
Wine & Spirits
Peter Fanucchi farms seven acres of mixed blacks on Wood Road, the vines planted in 1890, the census 90 percent zinfandel interspersed with alicante bouchet and petite sirah. He carefully times the tilling of the vineyard to sustain the dry-farmed vines, working organically and limiting his sulfur applications to two or three times per year. This is the second Williams Selyem release from this vineyard, brought into the stable by winemaker Jeff Mangahas, who worked with Fanucchi’s grapes at Hartford Family. His 2017 is ripe, rich and smoky, supercharged with red fruit and perked up by dusty spice in the tannins. It feels complete, a pleasurable zin with years of development ahead.
Other Vintages
2021-
James
Suckling
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine &
Spirits -
Wine
Enthusiast
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.