Edited comments are noted by ***
20 year retrospective of Williams Selyem Part 1
Kudos to Dusty Gillson who posted the links to this event from a Grape Radio coverage on a recent thread “pre- 1998 Williams Selyem” on the Wine Talk forum of Wine Berserker.
The event was the World of Pinot Noir held in Shell Beach, CA in March, 2010 and the broadcast broke it down into 2 parts, 1, Burt Williams years [1981-1997] and 2, Bob Cabrals years [1998-2010].
This emanated from a decision to celebrate the WOPN`s 10th anniversary and wanting to do something special such as a 10 year retrospective from a well known winery. Once deciding upon Williams Selyem as THE winery and recognizing there were 2 different eras involved, it was broken down into the 2 parts and covered 20 years total.
The program was hosted by Jay Selman, producer and Brian Clark, a co-host. The commentary was provided by Bob Cabral and Michael Jordan, Master Sommelier and restaurateur, not the more renown MJ.
From its humble beginnings, Burt Williams and Ed Selyem took their little garage project wine, originally named Hacienda Del Rio, to awards, kudos and critical accolades. The wines were mostly sold via mailing list, but soon the wine`s reputation and scarcity only added to its allure and ultimately, the wines became so popular that they started a waiting list to get on the waiting list. Their story has become a legend in the world of pinot noir.
My insertion: {Burt and Ed started in 1979 making wine in Forestville out of Burts garage. They were bonded in 1981. The first label was named after Burts home there. Due to a conflict with the name, they moved on to use the name Williams Selyem in 1984. Burt designed both labels. Their first commercial release was in 1983 and the first vineyard designate was Rochioli in 1985.}
I have paraphrased and added a little commentary to this first segment which should save some time for those not wanting to listen through the 1+ hour audio.
Part 1:
Bob stated “Burt wanted his wines to be food friendly”. “Burts wines changed dramatically even in a short period of time” {my insert: a feature Ive loved from the beginning is that the wines have NOT changed dramatically especially over the long term}.
MJ started out discussing the slow development of the soil types over the thousands and thousands of years from when this area was under water and he carried it forward through various stages.
Amazingly, there are over 400 soli types in Russian River Valley, more than all of the country of France.
It`s the nature of the sub soil that distinguishes one vineyard or even a part of a vineyard from another even when it is planted exactly the same in every aspect. This has a huge influence in the terroir factor. Many of these soils possess serpentine, a major rock forming mineral that is not conducive to plant growth due to its lack of needed nutrients; however, it does serve to provide additional stress which eventually concentrates the fruit of the vine {if I understood this correctly}.
One key to having great fruit is to match the rootstock with the soil type.
RRV is over 150 square miles in size. It is boxed shaped and located in the northern part of Sonoma County. The earliest vineyards were planted in 1839. By 1891, there were over 300 growers and 7000 acres planted in vines. By 2010, there were 65 wineries. There are 3 sub regions: [1] Middle Reach [the warmest and farthest North and where Olivet Lane Vineyard is situated], [2] Sonoma Coast [the coolest; the fog stops at about 900 feet and the ridges above that elevation are home to some of the best vineyards including Peay, Hirsch and Precious Mountain] and [3] Green Valley.
*** The middle reach of the Russian River is precisely where Allen, Rochioli, Bacigalupi and most of the Westside Road vineyards lie.
During Prohibition, many vines were replaced with Gravenstein apples which led to the conclusion that grape vines did well where apple orchids existed and vice versa.
Fog plays a major role in allowing for the highest of fruit quality. It`s common for the fog to remain into the noon or early afternoon times, burn off and return in the late afternoon. There can be as much as a 45° disparity in temperature range. This results in the acids setting up at night and the tannins to ripen and the sugars to develop in the day time.
Making balanced wine starts with balancing the vineyard. Cluster sorting is also important all the way through the process in the vineyards as well as in the bins.
How grapes tasted at various times including after pressing, provided a lot of information as to vineyard management procedures.
A rule of thumb: if you do not want to eat the grape, don`t make wine out of it.
The source of the yeast strain since 1984 came from Jackass Hill which was owned by the Martinelli family and a source for zinfandel that Burt made. It got its name due to its extreme steepness and Leno Martinelli`s father, Guiseppe, claimed “only a jackass would plant that slope”.
The purchase of Williams Selyem from Burt and Ed occurred in March of 1998 for about 9 million. BC stated it was painful for Burt to transition out. Bob was under the impression he would assist Burt for 5 years, but that did not happen. Burt kept great, detailed notes on everything which was extremely helpful.
This event included a tasting of 5 pinots made by each winemaker. The 5 selected for part 1 and attending notes were:
1991 ALLEN- 1980 was the first vintage from this old Pommard collection; there was 15 acres of pinot noir and 16 of chardonnay; Allen fruit never had a dark deep color; it did have that magnificent strawberry, cherry perfume with violets and rose petals; it was more feminine; the vines were 40 years old with a lot of serpentine in the soil; abc was 13.1%; aged in tightly grained 50% new oak and 1 year old medium toasted barrels with the heads also toasted made by Francois Freres.
*** 15 acres of Allen Pinot, maybe 2.5 acres, has some serpentine. This would be the block behind the Allen Barn. the rest of the vineyard is on clay with river rock.
1992 OLIVET LANE- red cherry, tangy raspberry, rhubarb highlight this wine made from 35 year old Marinelli selection clone vines with over 20 acres planted; 13.9% abc; aged 11 months in 62% new and 38% 1 year old FF barrels; from the more hotter climate Middle Reach region.
*** Olivet Lane is a Martini selection (Louis Martini). It is not in the middle reach it is on the west edge of the Santa Rosa plain heavy adobe clay.
1995 RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY- the first release of this blend which primarily would consist of newer vineyards in order to see how they would perform and if they had the potential for individual designation, this one had 67% Cohn, 27% Olivet Lane and 6% of Rochioli East Block; it was aged for 11 months in 40% new oak, 30% 1 year and 30% 2 year old FF; 13.6% abc; $27 release price.
*** There was always a Russian River Valley, at least since 1982 on. The heart of this wine was Rochioli East Block. The Cohn was only vineyard designated in 1993. It was not being managed correctly to be more than a blend. The Olivet lane were declassified barrels.
1996 HIRSCH- from 3 older blocks, 2 of which were Pommard clones, it was picked early on August 25, 27 and Sept. 2 due to the warm season; aged 18 months in 70% new and 30% 1 year old barrels; 13.8% abv; the taste profile was of beet root, licorice, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, spice and clove.
1997 ROCHIOLI- this was the last vintage of West Block [planted in 1969] in the Rochioli VD; incredibly balanced, it had cola, cherries, berries and spice and great length; a classic wine with great fruit and acidity; aged 19 months in 70% new and 30% 1 year old barrels; about 300 cases were made from 4. 43 tons of fruit; picked Aug. 24; at Burt`s insistence, it was priced at $125; the new owners and winery took lots of flack; “it looked like they were trying to make up for the sale”.
*** Since the first Rochioli Vineyard Designate (1985) all Rochioli VD were aged in 100% new Francois Freres Troncais Forest Oak.
*** At that time I was asked to give my notes on the wine and what price to charge by John Dyson. I’m sure it flew out of there.
Some detailed information was also given regarding when an inoculant was introduced, how long and when punch downs were made, never pressing the fruit, temperatures, sugars, use of dry ice during the cold soaks, etc.
This concludes Part 1.
Cheers,
Blake
