Winemaker Notes
Strawberry and cherry notes mix with subtle notes of allspice and clove. The palate offers softer tannins with hints of black tea and seamless acidity. Sourced from Williams Selyem's outstanding vineyards in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast AVAs, the Sonoma County always represents an outstanding value. Something to enjoy on the early side as you wait for the vineyard designates to mature.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is an elegantly layered, beguiling wine-a reflection of the appellation offered at a tremendously fair price. Strawberry purée and muddled cherries jump from the glass, wrapped in rounded tannins and integrated oak. With moderate concentration and richness, it ends in light accents of baking spice, cola and tea.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Pinot Noir Sonoma County is scented of bright, spicy red and black berries with nuances of earth, woodsmoke and black tea leaves. The medium-bodied palate offers surprising depth of fruit and loads of spicy character, a seamless, silky structure and long, uplifted finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Williams Selyem Sonoma County Pinot Noir delivers big-time richness that stays beautiful and persistent on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers rewards from start to finish. Enjoy its aromas and flavors of vivid pomegranate with a well-spiced, oven-roasted Porchetta. (Tasted: January 15, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.