Williams Selyem Foss Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013

Williams Seylem is the incredible partnership between Ed Selyem and Burt Williams, who pursued weekend winemaking as a hobby in 1979 in a garage in Forestville, California, and made their first commercial vintage in 1981. Flash forward a little less than two decades late, and the two created a cult-status winery of international acclaim. Together they set a new standard for Pinot Noir winemaking in the United States, aligning Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley in the firmament of the best winegrowing regions of the world. Today John and Kathe Dyson, who purchased the winery from Burt and Ed in 1998, carry on the passion for Pinot Noir winemaking without compromise. As for the wines… they just keep getting better and better.

The 2013 is a robust beauty, and with a little age to it, is starting to really flash its full potential. Notes of earth, black cherry and cranberry lead on the nose followed by red fruit, raspberry jam, tea and cedar notes. Very round at the entry, the Foss site provides for a supple, polished tannin structure and the finish lingers on with a medley of bergamot citrus peel and dusty cocoa powder notes. It’s a luscious, full-bodied Pinot that really showed well when I revisited this a few weeks ago.