Pick Up Weekend...Williams Selyem

Saturday started out Cold. Cold and Foggy! Down in the 40s as I drove through the Russian River Valley on Westside Road.

I had a chance to do a little networking this weekend.  I volunteered to help out the celebrated Russian River Pinot Noir producer Williams Selyem. They have been turning out tantalizingly tasty wines since 1981.  

Limited production. Very allocated. They have a waiting list for people to get a chance to purchase these sublime pinots. This weekend it was time for the lucky few to come pick up their allocations. It is a great business model. They sell 95% of their wine this way.  I can see why too. The one catch to the model - you have to be good at it. Williams Selyem delivers!
We volunteers, and the Wine Club members, had the opportunity to taste bottlings like the '07 Williams Selyem Bucher Vineyard, Litton Estate and Weir Vineyards Pinots. 

John Bucher was there pouring his vineyard designate.(that's him in the hat and jacket) Bucher's Vineyard is just a few miles away in the Russian River Valley. Remember, a few weeks ago, we had the Holdredge Winery version. John does indeed grow some great fruit.  I loved both winerys' bottlings.

The Litton Estate is one of their most rare and expensive versions. A real treat! If I understood correctly, this is the vineyard surrounding their new winery scheduled to be completed last month (a joke about deadlines).  
The Weir Vineyard. This deliciousness is from the Yorkville Highlands, near Anderson Valley.  I was running around up there earlier this month (about 50 miles to the north of here).

The main thing for me though was to expand my horizons and meet more wine folks. I did indeed meet some fascinating people and hopefully made some new friends. 
I worked most of the day with Greg, an '06 Williams Selyem intern and former lawyer, John a current one and former investment banker, Nico from Burgundy, and (forgive me) a New Zealand intern who's name escapes me (later learned it is Karl). I also got to meet the guys from August Briggs, Aaron and his brother Jesse. They help with the winemaking and all else that it takes to run a family business. They also have their own Russian River Pinot label - Romililly - that I will have to check out.
Williams Selyem has so many great people working for them. Cami, Rachael, Sarah and Erin were all in such good spirits the whole afternoon. And why not. They have a winery to be proud of. Winemakers Bob Cabral and Lynn Krausmann were pouring and chatting with their guests. All-in-all, not a bad way to spend a day in the Russian River Valley.
I will leave you with this. Another reason I love this country. The day cleared up just fine as you can see from these photos of the Allen Vineyard (surrounds the current winery).