Winemaker Notes
The Weir Vineyard Pinot Noir reveals aromas of red currant and strawberry with hints of crushed rock. Citrus peel and lavender add a wonderful perfume that epitomizes elegance. Dried herbs belie the fruit and floral elements which adds yet another layer. Wonderfully textured on the palate, the Weir offers red fruit flavors that transition to citrus and then to crushed quartz. This wine clings to the palate and finishes with elements of oolong tea.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
There isn’t a lot of pinot noir in the hills south of the Anderson Valley. And pinot wasn’t the most likely variety for Bill and Suki Weir to plant when they bought a parcel of rocky grazing land there, near the headwaters of the Navarro River, in 1987. A lawyer by trade, Bill studied viticulture, then, after a trip to Burgundy, he sourced plant material from Mount Eden, which traces its cuttings back to Domaine de la RomanéeConti; he used it, along with the Wädenswil clone, to plant his first 7.5 acres, in 1992. By 1998, he had convinced Burt Williams to buy some of his fruit and Williams Selyem has been making Weir Vineyard Pinot Noir ever since. It is among the most distinctive and, often, the most beautiful of Williams Selyem’s range.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Weir Vineyard is pale to medium ruby with a nose of cranberry, red licorice, rhubarb, rose petal and pomegranate with notions of stone, dried leaves, dusty earth, orange peel and amaro. It's light to medium-bodied with bright red fruits underscored by an earthy undercurrent, softly framed and finishing very long with lip-smacking acidity and pleasant bitters notions. 716 cases produced.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Williams Selyem Weir Vineyard highlights the little-known Yorkville Highlands AVA (located as one leaves Cloverdale in Sonoma County and enters Mendocino County). TASTING NOTES: This wine is already complex and is just going to get better with time. Its aromas of olallieberries, boysenberries, and chalk should pair beautifully with a garlic-infused, rosemary-accented spit-roasted leg of lamb. (Tasted: July 30, 2019, 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.”
A unique appellation placed in between the warm, Sonoma County Alexander Valley and the cooler Mendocino County's Anderson Valley, the Yorkville Highlands’ gravel soils are ideal for Bordeaux varieties and other full-bodied reds.