Description

Winemakers Notes

In ‘05 I began blending in a small amount of fruit from our Litton Estate vineyards, and almost 15% of this blend comes from specially selected Litton blocks. Medium red, but rich in color, the wine presents a bouquet of ripe strawberries, berry cobbler, plums, anise, clove, butterscotch and toasty oak. The palate is layered with flavors of blackberry, cassis, cherry cola, sarsaparilla, toasted bread, minerals and concentrated ripe tannins. This multifarious and seductive wine shows the true vineyard expressions of this unique area — plus it was a lot of fun to blend. — Winemaker Bob Cabral

THE VINEYARDS

The pinot noir for this blend was sourced from neighboring vineyards along Westside Road: the Allen Vineyard, the Bacigalupi Vineyard, the Bucher Vineyard, the Flax Vineyard, the Rochioli Riverblock Vineyard, and our Litton Estate Vineyard.

HARVEST 2007

The 2007 vintage has produced wines of extremely high quality, wines that are each brilliant expressions of their sites. The growing season was distinguished by its evenness with a cool finish. The summer months were characterized by warm, sunny, near-perfect weather with very few heat spikes during the fruit ripening stage of the vine growth cycle. This resulted in very uniform ripening and optimal development of intense varietal flavors, aromas and expression. The wines of 2007 convey their unique characters in a manner more vivid, precise and evocative than we have come to anticipate. In a decade of exceptional vintages, this one really stands above all others.

Critical Acclaim

95 points Connoisseurs Guide

The Westside Road Neighbors bottling is traditionally one of our Williams Selyem favorites, and it rises to the head of the class once again in 2007. It leads with the deep and downright succulent aromas of wonderfully pure cherry-like fruit that mark the best of its district, and, even if a little tight in construction, it shows fruity substance to spare and its precise, well-extracted flavors go on and on. While already impressive, it can only get better and deserves a few years in which to relax and fully unfold. *Three stars* – Connoisseurs Guide (10/2009)

93 points International Wine Cellar

Deep ruby-red. Smoky, complex aromas of blackberry, cola, sassafras and black cardamom. Powerful dark berry flavors display liqueur-like depth, with framing chewy tannins slowly sucked up by the dense, sweet fruit. The tannins recur on the finish, which strongly echoes the deep dark berry and cola notes. (ST 06/2009)

93 points Wine Enthusiast

A blend of several vineyards located near the winery, in the valley’s famed Middle Reach, this is the biggest and richest of Williams Selyem’s Spring 2007 releases. Full-bodied and soft, it shows ripe flavors of cherries, pomegranates, plums, sweet rhubarb, cola and sandalwood. -Wine Enthusiast (08/2009)