02.14.08 / 2004 Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Chardonnay

Valentine's Day is a good excuse to drink good wine. Courtenay has been feeling run down and in a bad mood so I let her choose a wine for us to drink. Of course she chose her favorite, Williams Selyem, and our last bottle of Chard.

It was premature to open it, but delish. Flavors of ripe pineapple, vanilla, oak. It needed some time to mellow out, but it really rocked after a bit. I made chicken under a brick with a pea, gruyere and asparagus risotto. She dug it and we had a great night!

01.25.08 / 2004 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Peay Vineyard

If you have read my previous Williams Selyem post , you know I am a big fan of Bob's wines. Albeit a new fan of two years. I met the Peay brothers' sister in Bridgehampton a few years back and have been looking for their wines ever since. They make Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast which are supposed to be excellent, they also sell their fruit. Truth be told, I haven't looked that hard, just in stores, at restaurants and CT distributors (of which there are none).

Our friends Jay and Jayma came for a visit, and WS is one of Jay's favorite producers. I have been saving the Peay Vineyard Pinot, since I was only alloted one, ever, and thought it the perfect time to open it. I brought home some zaza from Pepe's and Modern to do a little taste test. Pepe's straight up cheese won, of course.

I was very disappointed with the wine. There was nothing wrong with it, quite tasty. It had the tell tale WS style, light raspberry, soft tannins, etc.... there just was not anything special about it. At $75 from the vineyard, and two years of looking at the bottle, I expected a lot!

Oh well, we will see if I ever get alloted any more. Next round is at the end of the month. Court finally got on the list as well, so hopefully we will have more buying power!

2005 Williams Selyem Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

YES, I am being very selfish tonight. I had a great conference call and a returned NDA today, so I'm feeling pretty good. A friend of mine from college used to work at William Selyem and I always thought they made pretentious, overripe Californian Pinot oak jam - but to give them a chance I signed up for the waiting list. And waited, and waited for two years. I got on it almost three years ago and am pretty happy with their wines. Either my tastes have changed or they are making better Pinots. Granted the first two cycles I could only buy three bottles, then six, and now I think I am up to a full case of different Pinots - only a few from each vineyard site, and none from some of them.

The 2005 WS Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is their entry level with the Sonoma Coast - $45 a pop. The wine is light and boyant - with bright raspberry with a little oak. Some candied strawberry flavors, with an almost pot like whaffs of soil and burning pine straw. Overall a delish wine. I only had five bottles and now I am down to three. I put one away for the five year test and will wait to share the others. It might be too young to drink now, but I am sometimes impatient.