2017 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Bucher Vineyard
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Due to an unfortunate mechanical failure at the winery, this cuvée was not made in 2016. The 2017 Pinot Noir Bucher Vineyard has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and savory nose of prosciutto, cracked pepper, dusty earth, old leather, woodsmoke, ash and dried autumn leaves with black tea leaves, orange peel and black and red cherries and berries at the core. The light to medium-bodied palate is savory, intense and nuanced, framed softly by chalky tannins and finishing very long with great freshness. 504 cases produced.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
From a hilltop parcel with some loamy threads of soil that faces south, east and west. This has a very floral feel, offering sappy, foresty aromas with coal smoke and roasted meat, as well as earthy nuances. The palate has smooth and quite dense, smoked-berry flavors. Earthy. Drink or hold.
The 2017 Pinot Noir Bucher Vineyard is powerful and gamy, as it typically is, but with fewer of the strong feral notes that have made some previous vintages challenging to taste and not especially pleasurable. Black cherry, plum, iron, game and smoke inform this powerful wine. The 2017 is quite possible the best Bucher I have tasted here.
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.