Burt Williams dinner, SF Peninsula Divino Restaurant, Feb 26

Burt Williams, co-founder and winemaker of Williams Selyem (previously Hacienda del Rio) through the 1997 vintage, just passed away. I organized a Burt-era WS dinner about a year ago and the wines were in great shape. Let’s drink the rest of my Burt Williams WS’s, a good time to do so.

Wednesday night Feb 26 6:30 Divino restaurant in Belmont not far from SF Airport…

Who is bringing what

1-2.Burt’s daughters:
Katie
Katie bringing magnum of 1995 WS Summa!
Margi
Margi bringing magnum of 2006 Brogan Morning Dew Ranch!

3-4. Blake Brown + Roelanda
Magnum of 2009 Cristal
1986 (!) WS Sonoma County
1995 WS Hirsch
1992 WS “RRV” (actually Leno Martinelli) Zin

5-6. George C + 1
bringing 11 Williams Family wines

Brogan:
2002 Summa
2005 My Father’s Vineyard

Seven Lions:
2000 RRV Pinot, Butch and David’s Knoll Wes Cameron Vineyard

Burt’s Williams Selyem:
93, 94, 95, 97 Rochioli
94, 95 Allen
97 Sonoma Coast
97 Allen Chardonnay

7-8. Mark S + Jill
1991 SCM Pinot, beakers, and an old chard or cash

  1. Jonathan S
    Early 1990’s Selyem (which?), 2008 Dom

  2. Larry S
    Champagne

  3. Alan R
    1995 Old Hill

  4. Wes B
    1999 Seven Lions Zin RRV Martinelli and Duckhorn 125 year old vines (146 now); beakers?

  5. Sean S
    1995 David Bruce Chalone Pinot and 98 ME Estate Chard

  6. ER P
    1997 Dehlinger RRV Pinot; backup Champagne

  7. Jesse C
    1992 Old Hill magnum

  8. Andy K
    Dom 2008 or cash

That’s sixteen people, one and a half ounces per person for a 750ml. Beaker time.

Wait list:

Andrew T
Ian A
Glenn L
Kurt B
Robert C
Lisa P
David S

Withdrew:

Craig G
R Frankel
Mike S
Eric L

1 Like

George - Sounds great. Jill Bibo and I would like to join you for this celebration. We have a number of wines that meet your criteria and will sort through the cellar to offer up some specific options over the holidays. As for dates, Feb 4 and Mar 3, 17 and 24 would be out for us, but all other Tuesdays in Feb or Mar work well. Most Weds also work well! Thanks!

Mark thanks. Wednesdays are a possibility. I now sit back and wait for a consensus on date.

I’ll join if possible. Might have to source something.

Mark, good to see you post here!

Thanks Craig… I am a sometimes visitor but very infrequent poster - esp. for someone who came over from Squires and joined WB in 2009! LOL!

Thanks George. Getting consensus on dates is a tough one, so I will understand whatever you choose. We are good for all Weds in Feb and Mar except Mar 18 and 25. For those dates, you can blame United Airlines for putting their SFO to London flights on sale for 16,500 miles each way during Cyber Monday. Couldn’t pass up the deal!

George
A big thank you for honoring Burt. His Pinot was the first that I ever tasted and still remember the experience vividly. The wine was so aromatic you could smell the aroma way before it reached your nose. I do still have a few of his wines from the early 90s. I was already planning to do an offline here in either CT or NYC. Hopefully I can garner the interest.

I sometimes travel for events, and yours will no doubt will be a great evening. So please put me down for one spot. Will combine a trip to San Fran with a little side jaunt off to a long postponed trip to Napa. I will bring an early 90s Williams & Selyem bottle, as well as a bottle of 08 Dom to toast Burt. I cant think of a better reason to open one of my favorites.

George, please add me to the list. Your previous W-S dinner was a blast!

I’m interested, the last W-S dinner was indeed great! I have nothing that fits the theme, though. Can I bring bubbles (Champagne or CA)?

If so, count me in.

Like Andy, I don’t have any Pinot from the 90s. I can also bring Champagne or a dry Riesling (2001 Trimbach CFE).

Count me in. I’ll carpool with Craig.

George, thank you so much for doing this. I’m thinking of doing a similar thing in Santa Barbara. I’ve done a couple of retrospectives for my dinner group and may do another one soon as well. I might be able to make yours and am happy to contribute from the large stash I have. Please keep me informed as to when and where.
Cheers

George, a worthy idea, and I’d like to participate if dates work.

Blake that would be great. I’ve enjoyed your Burt posts and I’m sorry about the loss of your good friend.

That would be great Jonathan. I wonder if your WS dinner will be when I’m back East .

Count me in.

Ideally if the date works, a Wednesday is much better than a Tuesday and I’ll need to stay over so recs for places to stay would be appreciated.

If I’m able to come, I have a lot of his wines and would be happy to coordinate with you as to what I can contribute.

The Inn at Los Gatos is best, and is walking distance, a nice mile through town. But Silicon Valley is the opposite of tourist places: rooms here cost double during the week.

I’m down