Not that it is a problem, but a winery in a business park in
Santa Rosa really seems far far away from the multi-million dollar palaces of
Napa. However, a walk into the "winery" makes you realise that there is actual
work going on here. Its not just perfectly polished casks and shiny floors.
People go about tasting and assembling wines and whatever else needs to be
done. What you probably would not imagine is that these wines are some of the
highest rated Rhone Rangers to come out of California.
However, things here started with a different name about 10 years ago. Pax was
the name of the winery, named after Pax Mahle the previous winemaker. He made
wines that were rather big, if not over the top and quite delicious. However,
since around 2007 things have changed drastically. The name of the winery has
changed to Donelan Wines, the owners' name and a new winemaker has come on board. The
young man now in charge is Tyler Thomas, who makes wines that would astonish
more than one of us.
Wines so pure and drinkable, they are more like their European counterparts than the competition from home
Why? Well, first of all they aren't alcohol bombs. What Tyler tries to make are wines that are structured and balanced, whilst remaining drinkable. You won't find any 16% killers here. Rather, they all tend to be around 13% and allow you to enjoy a couple of glasses without that headache when you wake up on the next morning. Furthermore, there is beautiful purity to these wines. Whether you taste the Roussanne/Viognier blend ("Venus") or the syrahs. All of them have remarkable freshness for wines from an area as warm as Sonoma.
What is striking is that despite getting 100 points every now and then for
some wines, the whole Donelan range stays surprisingly affordable. That means
that even the top cuvees, Richard's and Obsidian, go for no more than a third of
what other wines of this calibre would set you back in California. Whilst not
being cheap per se, they offer tremendous value for money. They are wines of
incredible definition, unique character and beautiful concentration. Both of them are wines that never get cloying or feel too
rich, quite the opposite: They remain balanced, despite being their power.
So, once you have had enough of golden toilets in tasting
rooms to beef up prices, and want to taste wines from a more honest place give
the Donelan wines a shot. They can't host you in a palace, but count among the most interesting wines in Northern California.
