Charming Pinot Noir - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Wine of the Week

Charming Pinot Noir

by Joshua Greene • April 3, 2023

The winery and Estate Vineyard at Williams Selyem. (Photo courtesy of Williams Selyem)

Burt Williams and Ed Selyem made their first single-vineyard pinot noir in a rented garage in 1985. By the time they sold their company to John and Kathe Dyson in 1998, they had developed a portfolio of coastal pinot noir, focused on the Russian River Valley. In fact, their wines defined the region’s pinot. The Dysons set out to build on the founders’ philosophy—to make all the pinot noirs in exactly the same way, hoping to show off the differences of each vineyard site. Jeff Mangahas, who has made the wine here since 2011, learned those protocols from Bob Cabral, who learned them from Williams: the grapes foot trod in open-top fermenters (stainless-steel dairy vats cut in half, lengthwise); the same strain of local yeast that Williams originally isolated; no pumping, no filtering. Mangahas now works at a modern winery on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley, built on land the Dysons purchased in 2002, including 30 acres where John Dyson began planning an estate vineyard. That vineyard is now coming into full maturity: Those vines produced a layered and complex 2020 with a natural (rather than a natty) feel. Tart blackcap raspberry flavors and spruce-bough scents accent the plush texture, a wine of charm and harmony, sexy and sure of its intentions.

94

Williams Selyem 2020 Russian River Valley Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir

$115

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Joshua Greene

Joshua Greene is the editor and publisher of Wine & Spirits magazine.

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TAGS Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Sonoma Wine of the Week

David Paradela
Associate Editor

David joined Wine & Spirits in 2021 after immersing himself in the world of wine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Boston University with a degree in English and completed a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College in 2021. Prior to working at the magazine, he served as an editor and staff writer for the music blog Sound of Boston and worked in scientific publishing. Aside from wine, he loves basketball, arguing about Taylor Swift’s best album, and everything Greta Gerwig touches.

Corey Warren
Tastings Editor

Corey Warren moved to New York in 2015—fifteen years too late to join The Strokes—after earning a degree at Cornell in Comparative Literature. He started polishing glasses at Betony and threw himself into the restaurant world. Later, while a captain at Aquavit, he began working part time in the Wine & Spirits tasting department. Now, in addition to running tastings, he serves as critic for the wines of the Loire, Southern France, Argentina and South Africa. Corey likes almost anything bubbly, from Miller High Life, the Champagne of beers, to Champagne, the Champagne of Champagne, but he’ll drink anything once, and loves finding unique wines.

Tara Q. Thomas
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Since Tara Q. Thomas joined Wine & Spirits in 1997, she’s traveled the wine world from Argentina to Australia. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, with more than 20 years of experience in the food and wine world, Tara puts her culinary knowledge to use as W&S’s resident food critic, and is the critic for the wines of Austria, Germany, Eastern Europe, Argentina, and the Mediterranean. She’s particularly enthusiastic about the wines of Greece, where she once lived and cooked. Outside of W&S, Tara has authored two books, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine Basics and The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Wine; contributed to the Oxford Companion to Cheese as well as Oxford’s forthcoming volume on spirits; and writes a wine column for Culture: The Word on Cheese.

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Joshua Greene
Publisher & Editor

Editor and Publisher of Wine & Spirits since 1986, Joshua Greene began drinking wine with meals during a summer in Galicia, Spain, at the age of 13. In later years, he worked in wine shops in western Massachusetts and served as wine captain at Wheatleigh, a small inn in Lenox. After graduating from Princeton University in 1981, Greene pursued a career in magazines, focusing on the management of special-interest publications. His work with Wine & Spirits began on a consulting basis, eventually leading to his purchase of the magazine in 1989.

Greene has traveled extensively in the wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and all the major wine regions of the United States. In addition to his duties as editor and publisher, Greene serves as the critic for Napa Valley, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Rioja, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He also writes feature stories and commentary for each issue of the magazine.

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Patricio Tapia
Senior Correspondent

After graduating with a degree in journalism from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Patricio Tapia attended Bordeaux University in France, where he studied for a diploma in wine tasting and winemaking. Since then, he has visited wine regions around the world and authored several books, including his annual Descorchados, a Chilean wine guide; The Wines of Colchagua Valley; TodoVino and Wines for Great Occasions. Tapia is also the South American correspondent for The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book. For the past three years, he’s been a host on the El Gourmet channel in South America. At Wine & Spirits, Tapia is the critic for the wines of Argentina, Chile and Spain, and regularly contributes articles on these regions.