2019 Williams Selyem Chardonnay Drake Estate Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (5) Avg Score: 92.3 points

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  10/11/2023 - kkleg Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Nose of straw, saline, banana, and Meyer lemon. The palate shows medium oak, with notes of beeswax and wet stone.
  
  As other have noted, the finish is a bit short, which is unusual for a WS Chard in my experience. Not sure more time will change this. Still a decent wine, but not up to par with past vintages.

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  1/9/2023 - Rootmann Likes this wine: 90 Points

  The wine looks light gold colored. The legs are fast. There is no sediment in the bottle. It smells like lemon and apple. It tastes like lemon, apple, honeydew and honeysuckle. The body is light/medium. The wine has linear texture. The wine finishes short. The wine has medium acidity.

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  12/22/2022 - Snag One Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Hints of citrus notes, pineapple, green apple and minerals. Enjoyable wine that left me wanting for a little longer finish.

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  3/25/2022 - WineGeek1989 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  On the nose- Big tropical fruits, pineapple, starfruit, yellow apple, green apple, pear skin, meyer lemon, white flowers, wild herbs, nutmeg, wood spices, slight oak, fresh minerality
  
  On the palate- Big tropical fruits and pineapple, starfruit and yellow apple, green apple and pear skin, meyer lemon and white flower, wild herbs and nutmeg, wood spices and slight oak with fresh minerality and acid on the back end of the finish. This wine is drinking STUNNINLY right now being super young but it is young and could use another 3-4 years in the bottle before enjoying and I see a long life ahead of it. I would not be surprised if this lasted 15-20 plus years with no problem at all.

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  10/18/2021 - John Dunlap Likes this wine: 90 Points

  The Drake Estate is located about half a mile east of Guerneville, CA along the south side of the Russian River. The estate is very near Mays Canyon where other wineries produce Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. More importantly, the Drake Estate is 14 miles east of Jenner and the Pacific Ocean. Conversely, Drake is located 10 miles west of WS’s Westside Road winery. The influence of the cool ocean air is significant as diurnal Pacific winds barrel-up the river right past the estate thus mimicking some of the the “coolness” of Sonoma coastal terrain and its fruit. However, the Drake Estate falls within the Russian River Valley AVA, even though, this property possesses attributes of the Sonoma Coast.
  
  This is a complex wine and needs several years to develop. It’s very young. Initial upfront flavors are akin to pineapple, followed by green apple, vanilla, and something mineral/iron-like. It finishes with green pear, maybe a touch of mandarin citrus, and forest spice. It is tart and reminds me of some of those old-school CA Chardonnays that did not go through malo-lactic – thought this wine did. The wine has a fair amount of tannic acidity too, so give this wine around five years of cellaring.
  
  Scored 90 points in hopes that flavors in this wine further integrate. It could go up an additional point or two with proper cellaring. In 2021, I tasted a 2010 Drake Chardonnay and it was quite nice.
  
  PS. (Day 2). Wine has settled down a little, revealing a bit more smoothness and a touch of vanilla rather than spice flavors. Shows good promise.

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