Williams Selyem Drake Estate Vineyard Chardonnay 2006
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Wine Enthusiast
This new release, from the winery's estate vineyard, joins the ranks of older Williams Selyem single-vineyard Chardonnays, such as Allen and Hawk Hill, as some of California's most massive, powerful, dry white wines. It shows aromas and flavors of orange cream pie, white peach-infused crème brûlée, honey, butterscotch and toast, firmed up with crisp acidity. Almost a food group in itself, this beauty calls for lobster with melted butter.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The debut release from the home estate vineyard is the 2006 Chardonnay Drake Estate. Made from this vineyard planted with Wente clones, this wine exhibits a strong character in 2006. Undeniably successful, it is an elegant Corton-Charlemagne style of wine with notes of crushed rock., lemon and orange blossoms, sweet white corn, and quince. The freshness, medium to full body, and complexity are all very promising and especially noteworthy in a vintage such as 2006.
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Wine & Spirits
A range of citrus scents fills this mild, creamy chardonnay, from lemon meringue to zestier orange and grapefruit pith. It's supple, firm and fresh, an elegant wine for snapper roasted with fennel.
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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.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.