Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A perennial knockout, this wine combines vineyard sites from its namesake Westside Road. Flavors of smoke, strawberry, forest floor and black tea accent a velvety, lush palate, ending with a fresh, savory edge.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Spice cherries, wild strawberries, and crushed violets, notes, as well as plenty of spice, all emerge from the 2017 Pinot Noir Westside Road Neighbors. This Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is medium-bodied, has a wonderful sense of purity and ripe fruit, ultra-fine tannins, a weightless texture, and a great finish. This is incredibly classy and one of the more ethereal, elegant, and seamless wines in the lineup, if not in this entire report.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Whenever I approach this level of Pinot Noir—this wine is made from some of the most renowned vineyards in the Russian River—I am often afraid that the effort may go over the top as the winemakers attempt to make the most concentrated effort. Fortunately, the 2017 Williams Selyem Westside Road Neighbors is exquisitely structured. TASTING NOTES: This wine is powerful, balanced, and put together well. Its aromas and flavors of red fruits, black fruits, and essence of tea should pair it superbly with a delicately seasoned Porchetta. (Tasted: January 28, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Youthfully shy, the pale to medium ruby-purple colored 2017 Pinot Noir Westside Road Neighbors features very pretty violet, dried flowers and bitter citrus peel scents with blueberry, warm blackberries, nutmeg, dried black tea leaves and autumn leaves aromas. It's light to medium-bodied with a good core of fruit framed by soft, grainy tannins and juicy acidity, finishing spicy.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Long on black cherries with adjuncts of cola, sweet soil and dried flowers and showing an extra fruity push in both its its expansive aromas and deep, confidently focused, ever-so-slightly juicy flavors, this slightly supple and very wellbalanced Pinot is at once fairly weighty and enlivened by nicely integrated acidity. That it will age easily for another four or five years is beyond any doubt, yet, in all truth, its teasing succulence is to tempt earlier drinking, and we find it hard to argue against pulling its cork without a lengthy wait.
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.