2004 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir

[wondersofwine]

Rochioli Riverblock Vineyard, Russian River Valley, CA

The first bottle I've opened of about seven WS Pinots from 2004 and 2005 including some single vineyard wines.
14.4% alcohol
Red-violet color (garnet to amethyst)
Dark berries/cherries on the nose along with some cardamom spice. Nice fragrance. Not sure if the swallow theory (how many swallows you take reflexively with the first sip of a wine) is a barometer of quality or not but I took many swallows from the first sip of this wine. Lush, full-bodied presence on the palate.
Flavors of dark cherries and boysenberries with a bit of anise. A tartness on the finish that is not unpleasant.
I paired it with baked chicken one night and steak filet simply broiled with garlic salt and steak sauce another night. Looking forward to the rest of my stash.

[dananne]

Nice notes. I've only tried one glass of WS wine (at a restaurant), but see that they routinely score very high, for all it's worth. I'd like to take a crack at a whole bottle, but we don't see them on the shelves all that often down here, and when they do pop up, they're quite pricey. Do you recall what this ran?

I may see if I can find some to taste when we're out there next month.

[wondersofwine]

I got my bottles from the mailing list and probably have the prices at home. Will try to look up and post tomorrow. I passed on the top offer, Westside Road Neighbors, which I believe was $65 a bottle. I did get from Allen Vineyard, Peay Vineyard and Ferrington Vineyard as well as Rochioli Riverblock and some that were regional designation (i.e., Russian River Valley or Sonoma Coast).