Here’s a great article on this fabulous vineyard that Burt Williams made especially famous. One quote from it: “The 1991 Williams Selyem Summa Vineyard Pinot Noir was offered to the mailing list at $100 a bottle, the first California Pinot Noir to sell for triple digits. Burt figured that if people wouldn’t buy it, he and Ed would take it home and drink it. Williams said about the wine’s price, “C-note or c-none.” The wine sold out in three days.”
I spent a couple of C-notes and never regretted it. And, the 95` is one of my all time favorite wines.
I was crushed (pun intended) when Ted Lemon lost access to this fruit. And coincidently I opened a 2007 Littorai Summa last week. It was absolutely stunning. Sadly I’ve never had any Burt Williams wines from Summa. Those are some rare birds indeed.
When I stayed with Burt at his Morning Dew Ranch in Anderson Valley, he would show me where Ted Lemon lived up higher on the hillside as well as where his vineyards were situated. Burt was very fond of Ted and we drank some of his wines during many of the times I visited. All were great and his Summa was the best. The 07` just had to be the bomb.
Our tasting group (which you are part of, but you knew that) has become very adept at spotting Summa OV blind. It’s certainly distinctive and worthy of the praise it gets, Stevo.
Blake, have you not had any/many of the RM Summa OV?
No, I have not had one, only recently did I have any and that was the 2011 Summa reg. I just ordered some 08` which has yet to be delivered. Think I’ve missed out on something special and will have to fix that.
That vineyard can have a lush fruit/jam quality and most of the time, if you’re paying attention which I’m not, there’s an orange blossom/peel/zest thingy going on. Real solid markers if you’re tasting blind.
Summa is great and it sits on my list of great PN vineyards with the likes of Platt, Falstaff, and Alpine/Horseshoe. Might have to add School House from Napa to that list but Steve hasn’t let me drink enough of his cellar yet to make that official!
I’ll open a regular after receiving them but will give the old vines a few years. I had the 13 OV last year. I didn’t take any notes but it was outstanding. It was a reminder that I needed to start buying them again.
Brig, I think your orange blossom/peel/zest thingy nailed what I was struggling to put into words. In the 2011, I called it “wild red raspberry with clove, pine, vanilla and forest floor notes on the nose and a steak of blueberry running throughout”. I’ve had 2 bottles recently and both had that same wild fruit and strange and never before experienced {or I don’t recall} notes which I think I can get out of your assessment. Thanks for filling in a blank that had me puzzled. I’d never found that trait in any Pinot before {that I recall}.
My point was these have increased in value by up to 50% already. Other RM PNs seem to be selling for about their release price on the secondary market, except the Platt which is totally unavailable. In another thread I jokingly called it a Cult Cali Pinot, maybe no joke.
