WILLIAMSON FAMILY
THE WILLIAMSON STORY
We Came for Business.
Wine Country Had Other Plans.
From Australia to a new life among the vineyards of Northern California.
We came to California for a business trip.
That was the plan, anyway.
DISCOVERING WINE COUNTRY
A Remarkable Number of Vineyards in One Small Corner of California
Then we discovered the valleys, vineyards and small towns of Northern California—and stayed.
What attracted us was the remarkable number of growing conditions packed into such a small area. Napa and Sonoma gave us warm valley floors, fog-cooled vineyards, rocky hillsides, volcanic soils and mountain sites where the vines have to struggle for almost everything they receive.
Drive for an hour and you can move from a vineyard suited to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay into country that produces powerful Cabernet Sauvignon, fragrant Cabernet Franc, generous Merlot or beautifully ripened Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
For winemakers willing to explore, it was irresistible.
WINE BEGINS WITH PLACE
The Vineyard Decides
Wine begins with the grape, but the vineyard decides what that grape can become.
Plant the same variety in two different places and you may produce two completely different wines. Soil, geology, elevation, temperature, water, wind and exposure to the sun all leave their fingerprints on the fruit.
Together, these influences create what winegrowers call terroir—the character a wine gains from the place where it was grown.
European growers learned this over centuries. They discovered which grapes belonged in the vineyards of Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône, then refined those relationships from one generation to the next.
Chardonnay grown in the cool vineyards of Chablis, for example, speaks quite differently from Chardonnay grown farther south in the Côte de Beaune.
CALIFORNIA WINE, OUR WAY
Tradition Gives Us a Place to Begin
The great European wine regions gave us traditions worth understanding: generations of accumulated knowledge about vineyards, grape varieties, blending and the pleasures of the table.
We respect those traditions, but we do not try to make French wine in California.
We make California wine with a French sensibility.
These wines carry California sunshine, California vineyards and the generous character of fully ripened California fruit. They could only come from here.
BILL’S PERSPECTIVE
Our California Left Bank and Right Bank
I think of Napa as our California Left Bank and Sonoma as our California Right Bank.
It is not because they copy Bordeaux—they do not. It is a useful way for me to think about the structure, fragrance, weight and character that different vineyards can contribute to a wine.
— Bill Williamson
Napa gives us Cabernet Sauvignon with depth, structure and the ability to age. Sonoma brings coastal influence, cooler nights and an exceptional diversity of sites for Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and many other grape varieties.
They sit side by side, but they do not speak with the same voice. That difference is precisely what makes them so useful and exciting.
FROM VINEYARD TO CELLAR
Understanding What Each Site Can Give Us
The grape gives us the possibilities. The vineyard reveals which ones are worth pursuing.
01
Choose the Vineyard
We match each grape variety with a vineyard capable of providing the soil, climate and growing season it needs.
02
Farm for the Site
Our vineyards are sustainably farmed with an emphasis on soil health, low yields, balanced vine growth and fully ripe fruit.
03
Taste What It Gives Us
Wine is made separately from each vineyard so Bill can deciding whether the wine should stand alone or become part of a blend.
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER
Some Wines Stand Alone. Others Belong Together.
We make single-vineyard and single-varietal wines because each vineyard deserves to be understood on its own terms. These wines reveal what a particular grape, soil and climate can produce when carefully farmed and allowed to speak clearly.
Some vineyards give us a wine whose story is already complete. Those wines are bottled individually.
Others become the building blocks for a blend. The depth of one site, the fragrance of another and the structure of a third may come together to create a wine with greater balance, complexity and completeness.
We taste, blend and occasionally argue with the barrels until the wine finds its proper shape.
— Bill Williamson
Some of our wines follow the traditions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône. Others take a more adventurous path, including Sparkling Malbec and Sparkling Shiraz.
Tradition provides the foundation. California gives us room to explore.
FROM THE CELLAR
Wine Leads Naturally to Food
Wine has always belonged at the table. Our culinary team creates recipes, lunches, dinners and small bites that reveal what happens when the right food and wine meet.
Pairing is thoughtful and precise and sometimes it is simply something delicious beside a good glass of wine.
EXPLORE OUR RECIPESFROM THE TABLE
The Club Became a Community
We do not sell our wines through stores, restaurants or distributors. We share them directly with the people who enjoy them.
The Wine Club became the natural continuation of that idea—a way to share the wines, the table and the life surrounding them with people who appreciated the pleasure at home..
DISCOVER THE WINE CLUBTHE LIFE AROUND THE WINE
More Than What Is in the Bottle
What began in the vineyards grew into something larger: tastings in Healdsburg, lunches and dinners, harvest celebrations, recipes for cooking at home and wine-and-food journeys around the world.
These experiences are not extras added to the wine. They are part of the reason we make it.
A bottle may begin in a particular vineyard, but its real destination is a table. That is where it meets food, conversation and the people with whom we choose to share our time.
FROM A BUSINESS TRIP TO A WAY OF LIFE
The Final Judgment Comes at the Table
A wine should express the vineyard where it was grown, but that is not its only responsibility.
It should make the food taste better, encourage another conversation and give everyone a good reason to remain seated.
That is the kind of wine we make at Williamson.
We came to California to make wine. We stayed because we found a place where vineyards, wine, food and friendship could become a way of life.
What started as a business trip became the Williamson story—and it is still being written around the table.