Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine shines in fresh flavors of tangerine and grapefruit. Bright acidity lends structure to the light-bodied palate, giving it an elegant and lasting impression.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: For more than two decades, my palate battled with the "unoaked" Chardonnay. Many of the wines in this category just didn't taste right. Out of balance, too much weight, not enough weight, they just seem lacking the qualities of being top-notch. It seemed like wineries just wanted to tell the world, "Look, we are pure and we are not using oak!" The 2016 Williams Selyem is an outstanding effort and which everything is in balance. TASTING NOTES: This wine is rich, textured, and well structured. Its aromas and flavors of ripe apples, bright citrus, and attractive minerality should pair it superbly with simply prepared crustaceans. (Tasted: January 28, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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.