Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Taking its place at the top of the Williams Selyem roster of outstanding 2013 Pinots, this lovely offering exhibits the uncanny combination of riveting richness and grace that only the finest renditions of the varietal can. It is at once both solid and genuinely elegant stuff with great vigor and verve and a sense of seamless integration from beginning to end. As is the ase with so many of the winery’s youthfully charming releases, it is a wine of so much immediate appeal that waiting will not come easy, but even a bit of patience will pay dividends as it gains complexity over time.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Pinot Noir Williams Selyem Estate has a complex, almost DRC-like forest floor nose with raspberry, black cherry, and floral notes. Full-bodied and ripe, it gets my highest marks as the most profound of the 2013 Pinot Noirs from Williams Selyem. This full-bodied classic should age effortlessly for 15+ years. Rating: 94+
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.