Williams Selyem
Bob Cabral has been involved in growing and making wine professionally since 1979 and has had an interest in wine and farming since his childhood. A fourth generation family farmer and grape grower, he took all he learned making wine with his grandfather at the family farm and applied it to his studies at Fresno State University, ultimately earning a Master’s Degree in Enology.
In the mid-1980’s, Bob knew that Sonoma County was where he could hone his skills and learn to make wines that could rival the best made anywhere in the world. He worked the next eleven vintages in various winemaking positions in Sonoma County. In 1998, Burt Williams recommended that Bob take over for him as winemaker at Williams Selyem. They discovered that he shared a similar philosophy with John Dyson, the winery’s owner, that the most important aspect of winemaking is in the vineyard.
Heading into his eleventh vintage at Williams Selyem, his winemaking philosophy hasn’t changed: “Once the fruit is taken care of, then we try to intervene as little as possible. While there is no shortage of hard work in the cellar and you must pay careful attention to detail, great wines are really made in the vineyard.” Bob, his wife Heather, and their daughter Paige live in the Russian River Valley.
