Williams Selyem Hirsch Pinot Noir 2008
-
Enthusiast
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Dazzles with richness, offering waves of candied, tart raspberry and cherry fruit, Dr. Pepper, exotic Indian spice, rose petal and sandalwood flavors, as well as undefinable feral things. Absolutely dry and high in acidity, with overwhelming complexity, it’s a milestone. Drink now through 2014; could go way beyond.
Other Vintages
2015-
Parker
Robert
-
Guide
Connoisseurs'
-
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Panel
Tasting -
Spirits
Wine &
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spirits
Wine &
-
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Spirits
Wine & -
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Spectator
Wine
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.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.