Williams Selyem Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2015
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The Pinot Noir for this blend was sourced primarily from our Drake Estate Vineyard, and the Williams Selyem Estate Vineyard.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Roses and strawberries rise first on the nose of this well-made wine—a celebration of the appellation in its full embrace of medium-bodied texture and weight. It offers elements of dried sage, black tea and cardamom around bursts of cranberry, cherry and orange.
-
Wine & Spirits
Williams Selyem’s multi-vineyard Russian River blend is in fine form in 2015, entering on a dark-roast coffee scent of new oak, then finding its footing in a juicy ripe plum flavor that feels hearty and welcoming, expanding in the end toward a lifted scent of lavender.
Other Vintages
2021-
Wine
Spectator
-
Wilfred
Wong -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Connoisseurs'
Guide
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine &
Spirits -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine &
Spirits -
Connoisseurs'
Guide
-
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine &
Spirits -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator
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.
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.