Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Another longtime standout for Williams Selyem, Allen Vineyard fruit imparts textural subtleties and a wealth of minerality and freshness. Citrus-driven in its cranberry and orange flavors, it shows depth and complexity, accented by lively thyme and clove notes.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Superbly crafted, the bold and larger-than-life 2014 Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir penetrates the palate without holding back. The wines ultrarich black fruit and savory oak flavors pair it with beef as well as lamb dishes. (Tasted: November 17, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple colored, the 2014 Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard delivers expressive spice notes of cloves, cinnamon and anise over a red currant, red cherry and lavender core. The well-structured, medium-bodied palate packs-in a great intensity of fruit, finishing with lingering mineral notes.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Nicely ripened with an invitingly pure and insistent sense of fruit but still a bit tighter in its framing with evident acidity tempering its nascent inclinations to suppleness, this wonderfully well-defined youngster teases with tantalizing glimpses of increased richness and nuance to come. It is at once concentrated and fairly light on its feet, and it has the vitality, the depth and the very sure fruity focus of a Pinot that is destined to grow with great grace and become more compelling as the next half-dozen years pass.
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.