A great review of the original Williams Selyem and a derivative winery, WesMar

This comes from friend, Rusty Gaffney, who has been a longtime fan of WS and personal friend to Burt and Ed:

http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/2173/

Nice writeup. When Gallo was advertising Bartles & James winecoolers, I felt they were channeling Burt & Ed.

WesMar is the number one pinot producer in our cellar. In addition, we consider Kirk and Denise to be good friends.

I’m surprised I’ve never had any WesMar Pinot. After reading the article and talking to Burt, I’m intrigued enough to find some for a first time ever trial.

Williams Selyem meets Bartles and James: the Bartles and James commercials started the same year W-S, then Hacienda of the River, did. As I recall, one of the characters was played by a contractor who was building a house for Hal Riney, the creator of the commercials.

Ill take Williams Selyems wines over Bartles & James or for that matter, Ernest & Julios anytime Mel.

Oh that is too funny, Mel.

You only hang with the cool kids.

Blake, did you ever try the original Bartles and James before they started using grains instead of grapes?? Wow!! There is nothing like a barrel fermented wine cooler.
Of course Tom Hill followed them from the beginning…still does.

Mel, there’s a few wondrous things I’ve missed in life and that was one of them. Maybe Tom can chip in here and add some TNs.

I ordered a sixer of WesMar with my father on a lark (well, we were drinking together) and was very happy. I’ve ordered from the last 3 vintages - great pinot and a reasonable price!

Bryan, can you elaborate on the style, weight and fruit profile? I’m tempted to go for some blind just knowing that Burt had some influence on their winemaking and vineyard management.

Blake,

The style is not far away from Williams-Selyem, but these are not as acid driven. The Hellenthal is the leanest and requires the most aging. If you’re picking up a sixer, get 2 of these. The Salzgeber is my favorite - buy at least 2 or 3 of these. About as lush as Westside Road or the RRV appellation bottling at WS, with rich red fruits. Pleasant to drink now without a lot of age. The Oehlman and Balletto are your most fruit forward - I think of blackberry jam with the Balletto. I would only pick up 1 of each as these are my least favorite. I’m not great on specific tasting notes, but the style is certainly not lean.

Very helpful and much appreciated Bryan. I’m on it.

For those who desire more info on WesMar, here is a link that not only has a nice writeup about the winery, but TNs dating back to 02` up to close to current releases: | The Prince of Pinot

A couple off salient points here. Its pronounced Wes Mare and the Mare comes from the daughter of Ed Selyem, Denise Mary Selyem, who along with her husband, Kirk Wesley Hubbard, worked at the original WS for a few years until it sold in 98`.

Blake - Thanks for raising awareness of this project. Just what I needed - another source from which to buy wine.
I just bought a few based upon the Prince’s notes. All 2016’s.
Kirk reached out to personally thank me for the purchase and to find out how I learned of WesMar. I told him: Blake, WB and the Prince! This places moves markets.

I`d be interested in your feedback re the wines Tom. Hope you/we are making a good call here.

Thanks to Seiber I just blind tasted the 2008 WesMar Pinot Noir Balletto Vineyard and called it a WS Ferrington with some age.

I got partial credit.

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

I immediately told Brig that he was 99% correct with his guess.

It really looked and tasted very much like a W-S of that era. Lighter colored, very red fruit veering to the sweet side, clove and cinnamon spice.

Has anyone tried any WesMar lately? Kind of dropped off my radar after buying from the mailing list for a couple of years, but seemed to be reasonably priced.