Williams Selyem occupies a pivotal place in the story of American Pinot Noir. Situated on Westside Road near Healdsburg in Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, the winery helped redefine what was possible with Pinot in California. Known for its elegant, site-driven wines, Williams Selyem focuses almost exclusively on Pinot Noir, sourcing fruit from many of the most respected vineyard sites on the West Coast. Its single-vineyard wines - from names like Rochioli, Allen, Hirsch, Ferrington, and Vista Verde - are released in small quantities and command high demand through a long-standing allocation list. These wines are known for their transparency, balance, and ageing potential, and have consistently garnered acclaim from critics and collectors alike.

The winery also produces Chardonnay and Zinfandel in the same site-specific, minimalist style. The Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, a blend of top vineyards, serves as an accessible introduction to the house’s approach, while bottlings like the Rochioli Vineyard Pinot Noir remain benchmark expressions of California’s cool-climate terroir. Today, Williams Selyem continues to operate with a philosophy that privileges precision over volume, and vineyard character over winemaking artefact.

Williams Selyem is owned by John and Kathe Dyson, who acquired the winery from co-founder Burt Williams in 1998. John Dyson, a former New York State Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, had long admired the wines and was an early mailing list customer. Today, winemaker Jeff Mangahas leads the cellar, having taken over from Bob Cabral in 2015. Mangahas maintains the winery’s long-standing philosophy of minimal intervention and site transparency.