Updated History of Williams Selyem 1979-1997/ 1998 to the present Part Four

[Blake_Brown]

@Sean Devaney

I am remembering sometime in the early 90’s some jerk stole a tractor and plowed down a row or two Rochioli vines that W&S were receiving and and cut production. “Why didn’t they take out the French Colombard” I believe Tom (?) lamented. This also happened at the same time W&S stopped giving a 10% discount on cases.

Sean, I am not aware of this, but will inquire from Burt and see if I can add anything more- thanks for the input.

[Blake_Brown]

@Clayton Wai-Poi

to add, Riverblock was labelled as “Riverblock” until 1997. From 1998 it is “Rochioli Riverblock”.

Blake - nice series on perhaps my favorite California producer. It looks like you;re going to stop at 1997, but it would be great to hear more on the Cabral years, feels like there’s less inside info on that period.

I can add what is shown on the current website:

"Williams Selyem Winery began as a simple dream of two friends, Ed Selyem and Burt Williams, who started weekend winemaking as a hobby in 1979 in a garage in Forestville, California. It took less than two decades from their first commercial vintage in 1981 for Burt and Ed to create a cult-status winery of international acclaim. Together, they set a new standard for Pinot Noir winemaking in the United States, raising Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley to among the best winegrowing regions in the world. Here’s a brief history of Williams Selyem’s rise in the sometimes heartbreakingly cruel world of Pinot Noir.

Timeline

1970’s Burt and Ed begin making wine in a garage in Forestville. Some of their first fruit is from local grower Leno Martinelli; Zinfandel from 84-year-old vines grown on Jackass Hill.
1981 Burt and Ed make the winery official (and legal!) and name it Hacienda Del Rio.
1982 The first vintage is produced with the now iconic Williams Selyem label. Burt designs it using a letter press and even mixes his own ink for the labels.
1983 The first commercial release of Hacienda del Rio.
1983 Burt and Ed receive a cease and desist letter from the Hacienda Winery, requesting that they not use the name Hacienda on their label.
1984 The first vintage of Williams Selyem on the label releases. The winery is legally Williams & Selyem.
1985 The first vineyard designate Pinot Noir from the Rochioli Vineyard is released.
1987 The Williams Selyem Rochioli Vineyard Pinot Noir wins the Sweepstakes Prize (top red wine) at the California State Fair. Their Pinot is voted the best of the 2,136 wines entered by 416 wineries.
1987 Due to the sudden notoriety, demand now exceeds supply. The Williams Selyem ‘waiting list’ develops, as not all those hoping to purchase received the opportunity.
1989 Their single-vineyard designate Pinot Noir wines attract worldwide notoriety. Win Wilson and Jack Daniels, the Napa Valley importers of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti come to Williams Selyem in 1992 to compare wines. 23 bottles later, Williams Selyem holds its own, adding to its rapidly growing world-class reputation.
1989 The crew moves into the Allen facility on Westside Road.
1990’s The Williams Selyem production grows from about 4,000 cases of wine to 8,000 cases of wine in 1998. The wine is still sold mainly directly to consumers with select cases going to top restaurants in California and New York. The wait to get on the mailing list approaches two years.
1992 The growth of the winery allows Burt and Ed to quit their day jobs and focus solely on the winery.
1995 Williams Selyem is served at the White House.
1998 Burt and Ed sell the winery to John Dyson.
1998 John Dyson buys the Drake property in Guerneville and begins developing it as the first Williams Selyem Estate property.
2001 The Williams Selyem Estate Vineyard is purchased from the descendants of Cecil and Luella Litton. In honor of the heritage of the Litton family, the property is named Litton Estate.
2004 The experimental Mass Selection Vineyard is planted with 18 diverse clones intermixed in the same block.
2006 The first vintage of Litton Estate Pinot Noir is made consisting of 2 barrels only.
2006 Ground is broken and construction began on the new state-of-the-art winery on Westside Road.
2007 Wine Enthusiast awards the Litton Estate Pinot Noir a perfect 100 points. It is the first Pinot Noir in North America given 100 points by any major wine publication.
2009 The production crew moves into the first completed section of the winery for barrel aging, lab work and bottling. Crush and fermentation still happens at the Allen facility.
Late 2010 The new winery is completed and all administrative offices and day-to-day operations move.
Early 2011 Williams Selyem active list members are invited to visit, tour and taste at the winery (by appointment only).
2011 Bob Cabral is named winemaker of the year.
2015 Jeff Mangahas takes over as head winemaker.

The winemaking torch has been passed into the skillful hands of Jeff Mangahas and his team, who respect and employ the original handcrafted approach to winemaking for which Williams Selyem is known. By following proven traditions of respecting the individuality of the growers and vineyards we will continue to deliver distinctive wines."

[Joe_Webb]

Thanks Blake for the info, finally go around to reading all the tabs I had opened from the 4 parts.

@Blake Brown

FWIIW, Burt bought a 40 acre property located at a relatively high elevation at 600 feet and therefore cooler climate in Anderson Valley. He planted the 13 acre vineyard to be named Morning Dew Ranch in 1998 after selling. He used clones from Rochioli, DRC suitcase clones, clone 23 and Dijon clones 115, 777 and 828 on the following rootstocks 5BB, 140R, 110R, 3309C. The first to vilify fruit from the vineyard were his daughter Margi [Brogan Cellars], Miura, Drew, Whitcraft, Woodenhead and Williams Selyem. Burt made 2 vintages, 08 and 09 before finally retiring for good.

Fixed it for ya

[Blake_Brown]

@Joe Webb

Thanks Blake for the info, finally go around to reading all the tabs I had opened from the 4 parts.

@Blake Brown

FWIIW, Burt bought a 40 acre property located at a relatively high elevation at 600 feet and therefore cooler climate in Anderson Valley. He planted the 13 acre vineyard to be named Morning Dew Ranch in 1998 after selling. He used clones from Rochioli, DRC suitcase clones, clone 23 and Dijon clones 115, 777 and 828 on the following rootstocks 5BB, 140R, 110R, 3309C. The first to vinify fruit from the vineyard were his daughter Margi [Brogan Cellars], Miura, Drew, Whitcraft, Woodenhead and Williams Selyem. Burt made 2 vintages, 08 and 09 before finally retiring for good.

Fixed it for ya

Thanks Joe. Also, auto correct has got me many times now on vinify [even just now]. I just type away and submit it assuming all is good.

[Mel_Knox]

I have some of the wine Margie vilified…I ll open a bottle and see if was vinified as well

[Blake_Brown]

@Mel Knox

I have some of the wine Margie vilified…I ll open a bottle and see if was vinified as well

No defamatory reviews please.

[timmy_roos]

Spring of 1994 Burt invited fresno state enology students to full tour of facilities(which was a metal barn iirc) which was where I fell in love with wine

[Blake_Brown]

@timmy roos

Spring of 1994 Burt invited fresno state enology students to full tour of facilities(which was a metal barn iirc) which was where I fell in love with wine

Love it. I`ll have to remind Burt of it.

[John_Ammons]

I’ve had some bottles over the years that Bob Cabral vilified. (Read: pinot noir meets rubber)

I’ve had other Cabral era wines that were fantastic. What’s odd is that given it’s been more than a couple that I felt were flawed, one doesn’t ever seem to hear about that reaction from others. Just calling them like I tasted them. I think 2004s were particularly uneven.

[Blake_Brown]

@John Ammons

I’ve had some bottles over the years that Bob Cabral vilified. (Read: pinot noir meets rubber)

I’ve had other Cabral era wines that were fantastic. What’s odd is that given it’s been more than a couple that I felt were flawed, one doesn’t ever seem to hear about that reaction from others. Just calling them like I tasted them. I think 2004s were particularly uneven.

I can relate. I had a couple of Allen Pinots from 99 and 00 many years ago that were so bad, I wrote Bob and asked what happened?

[kevanmah]

Love reading these histories. I’ve never had a bad experience with Selyem and just purchased 10 bottles from my allocation.

I went to Canlis in Seattle last week and saw they had almost an entire page of Selyem. I was feeling like a pinot, but didn’t want to spring for their Selyem prices when I had some coming my way already, and the sommelier recommend I try a 2014 Littorai Savoy, which was new to me, but had a very Selyem feel to it for about half the price (restaurant markup included).

[Blake_Brown]

@kevanmah

Love reading these histories. I’ve never had a bad experience with Selyem and just purchased 10 bottles from my allocation.

I went to Canlis in Seattle last week and saw they had almost an entire page of Selyem. I was feeling like a pinot, but didn’t want to spring for their Selyem prices when I had some coming my way already, and the sommelier recommend I try a 2014 Littorai Savoy, which was new to me, but had a very Selyem feel to it for about half the price (restaurant markup included).

Happy you enjoy the history threads. BTW, you may want to refer to the label as Williams Selyem as it is known by the entire name. Ed Selyem did not make the wines; therefore, Burt Williams was more well known for his role in the partnership since he did.

[kevanmah]

Thanks for that! Another good tip from this post. I’ll be sure to include Burt everytime from now on

[Clayton_Wai-Poi]

@Blake Brown

@John Ammons

I’ve had some bottles over the years that Bob Cabral vilified. (Read: pinot noir meets rubber)

I’ve had other Cabral era wines that were fantastic. What’s odd is that given it’s been more than a couple that I felt were flawed, one doesn’t ever seem to hear about that reaction from others. Just calling them like I tasted them. I think 2004s were particularly uneven.

I can relate. I had a couple of Allen Pinots from 99 and 00 many years ago that were so bad, I wrote Bob and asked what happened?

I agree that Cabral got off to a very uneven start. From my experience the 1998-2002 wines are a bit of a crapshoot - some strong ones and some howlers. I think things turned a corner with 2003/2004 (despite the heat of the vintage) and in general got better from there.

[Clayton_Wai-Poi]

An interesting observation from Tanzer on Cabral’s approach (at least in his early vintages): "Cabral carries out what he descries as “cookbook fermentations” in order to let the vintages and vineyards express themselves. Not sure if that was Burt’s approach but it seems like it might explain some of the inconsistency between vintages and vineyards in those early Cabral years.

[Blake_Brown]

@Clayton Wai-Poi

An interesting observation from Tanzer on Cabral’s approach (at least in his early vintages): "Cabral carries out what he descries as “cookbook fermentations” in order to let the vintages and vineyards express themselves. Not sure if that was Burt’s approach but it seems like it might explain some of the inconsistency between vintages and vineyards in those early Cabral years.

Without going in to details, I know that Burt was dismayed at the handling of the fruit and vinificaiton procedures that deviated from his protocols. As such, he stayed away from the advisory position he was to assume for 5 years after the sale.