2002 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard
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Tasting notes
(14% alcohol; 78% new oak): Black cherry and a whiff of maderization on the nose. Highly concentrated and a touch exotic, with flavors of olive tapenade and cherries macerated in alcohol. Shows more volume and sneaky length than the 2001 version but also comes across as slightly disjointed. The warm finish hints at cilantro and olive tapenade. (My sample of the 2003 was liqueur-like, even a bit oxidative, on the nose, offering scents of cherry candy and resin. Thick, high-toned and liqueur-like on the palate, it's evolving very quickly and appears to be past its peak. The 2003 growing season featured a mostly cool summer requiring a late harvest, but Allen was picked on September 15 after a strong heat spike. The wine finishes with noticeable alcoholic heat.)
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The terrific deep ruby/purple-tinged 2002 Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard offers a smorgasbord of aromas and flavors, including crushed minerals, black raspberries, forest floor, and strawberry jam. Drink it over the next decade. Tel. (707) 433-6425; Fax (707) 433-6546
Good full ruby-red. Highly aromatic nose combines black fruits, minerals, pepper, Asian spices, flowers and sexy oak. Dense, intensely flavored and rather powerful, but with the seamless texture of the best examples from this superb vineyard. Very ripe and concentrated but still quite young. Black fruit flavors are nicely framed by espresso and sweet oak notes on the lingering finish.
About the producer
Williams Selyem is an iconic Russian River Valley winery best known for its Pinot Noir. Producing restrained yet classically Californian expressions of the heartbreak grape (as well as a host of other wines), the property has gone from pioneer to one of the region’s standard-bearers.