2018 | Williams Selyem | Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard Zinfandel

Highlights of stone fruits mix with berry and blueberry notes to offer a dramatic aroma, while darker pitched elements of anise and allspice add additional layers. Vibrant and refreshing on the palate, the wine offers berry fruits, citrus peel, and wonderful minerality. For as powerful as this wine is, the palate retains a balance due to the zesty acidity and sheer extract from these old vines.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2018 Zinfandel Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard has a medium ruby-purple color, opening to scents of tar, turned earth and aniseed over a dense core of blackberry and blueberry fruit. The medium-bodied palate is grainy and super fresh, offering more lift and nuance than the nose leads you to believe, and it finishes long and layered. Give it another couple years in bottle.

• Wine Enthusiast: Brawny and aromatic in blackberry, dark cherry and dried herb, this old-vine wine is thick and well integrated. The flavors veer from rich and broad to savory and spicy, with a lasting element of crushed rock.

Producer Information

Williams Selyem is a Californian winery that has achieved cult status through small productions of high-quality, single-vineyard Pinot Noir. It began in the late 1970s, initially as a garage project by Ed Selyem and Burt Williams in Forestville, a community in Sonoma County. In 1981 the pair – who were neighbors – officially named their project Hacienda Del Rio and established it as a legal winery. Two years later, the release of their first commercial vintage (1981) coincided with a cease-and-desist order from Hacienda Winery, leading them to change their name to Williams Selyem. Williams Selyem found its success buying and bottling single-vineyard wines, with Pinot Noir as the focus. Single-vineyard wines were not new to California, but the first for Williams Selyem was its 1985 Rochioli Vineyard Pinot Noir. Released in 1987, the Rochioli immediately received critical praise, winning the Sweepstakes Prize at the California State Fair for best red wine. In the same year, the demand for Williams Selyem's wines exceeded supply and a waiting list was created to fill orders. The 1990s saw the modest production double to a still-limited 8000 cases in 1998, with the wait-time to get on the mailing list averaging two years. This success in the early '90s saw Burt and Ed become full-time winemakers, and their 1991 Summa Vineyard Pinot Noir become the first California Pinot to retail for $100. In 1998, they sold the winery to John and Kathe Dyson, who established the first estate vineyards. Williams Selyem now has two estate vineyards in the Russian River Valley AVA, the Williams Selyem Estate Vineyard (formerly Litton Estate) and the Drake Estate Vineyard. A third vineyard, Vista Verde, is located in the San Benito AVA, inland from Monterey. While Pinot Noir dominates production, Williams Selyem also makes a small amount of Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and a Port-style fortified dessert wine. These offerings vary in production from year to year but many also carry single-vineyard designations.

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