Shop Williams Selyem

"Wines worth the wait."

Burt Williams and Ed Selyem started their winery in the Russian River Valley with two lofty goals: to craft wines that set the standard for excellence, and to come to know and serve their customers personally.

We continue to serve those goals today, committing to do whatever is necessary. Extra time, extra effort, extra manpower, less sleep, a near-fanatical attention to detail… if it contributes to the quality of our wines and service, it’s worth it.

The number of cases we produce is based purely on how much outstanding wine we can coax out of our grapes, and that amount will vary, vineyard to vineyard, season to season.

"We really do mean ‘handcrafted."

We talk about our wines as ‘handcrafted’ because it’s true. Handcrafted is something best defined by human effort—both in the vineyard and at the winery. During harvest we hire interns from around the world to add some extra hands because it really does take many hands to make truly handcrafted wines.

"Processed with minimal interference."

From fermentation to bottling, our methods do not include pumping, filtering or other processes that could unsettle or compromise the quality of our wine. We’ve learned over the years: Never rush our grapes. Respect the grapes and the wines will always reward your efforts.

"It’s all about the details."

We are fanatical about details and it’s fanaticism you can taste. Each tiny individual piece of our process adds to the quality of our wines,from the old-world methods of foot treading the grapes (in very clean fishing waders!); to punching down tanks every 6 hours; to manning the bottling lines; each one done to the best of our abilities, to make the best wine possible.

How does a hobby become a passion and a passion become a legend?

Like most good stories, the history of Williams Selyem owes much to serendipity. If a grower with an abundance of fruit hadn’t given Burt Williams a few tons of free grapes in the 1970s, Burt might never have discovered his love and flair for winemaking. And if Burt and his partner Ed Selyem had been able to afford the French Burgundies they both favored, they might never have tried making their own Pinot Noir.

The two friends didn’t set out to produce wines for anyone but themselves. And they surely never imagined that their humble experiment in home winemaking would spawn a cult-status winery of international acclaim. Together, Burt and Ed set a new standard for American-made Pinot Noir, and elevated Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley to among the best wine growing regions in the world.