2013 Donelan Chardonnay "Nancie" Sonoma County 750 ml

From Pax to Donelan - The Evolution of a Winery

Joe Donelan is a man who knows what he wants. An interest in wine turned into a passion at Topper’s at the Wauwinet on Nantucket. Bottle after bottle of the best red and white Burgundies from Sommelier Michael Fahey’s spectacular list inspired Joe to change his career and focus his energy on making some of the best red and white wines from Sonoma.

This epiphany led Joe to trade in his three-piece suit and ditch corporate America. Joe took a long road trip along the Sonoma Coast searching for somewhere he could manifest his life’s dream — to create his own winery. Joe’s guide on this fateful voyage was a precocious aspiring Master Sommelier. This wunderkind’s knowledge and passion for the different terroirs of the coast so impressed Joe that Donelan offered to partner on a project that would propel the young man straight into the role of winemaker. That young man was Pax Mahle. That winery became the eponymous Pax, and from their first official vintage in 2000, the accolades came pouring in.

As Pax Winery evolved into Donelan Family Wines, the name changed but the quality that earned more than 35 scores of 90 points and above from both Wine Spectator & Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate did not. With help from Joe Donelan’s two sons, Tripp and Cushing, the first bottles labeled “Donelan Family Wines” rolled off the line in 2010.

In the years since, Donelan’s wines have appeared on top restaurant lists around the U.S. and in select boutique retailers, with the rest offered on allocation to the mailing list. The Donelan philosophy has been to focus on restraint and precision, and the critical acclaim has only increased. Robert Parker, especially, has been a fan, lobbing multiple 98+ scores on Donelan wines and one 100-point rating, and of late special raves for Donelan’s Chardonnay.

Beginning in 2012, when Parker took a personal interest and began reviewing the wines himself, the scores have continued to climb. The 2013 Donelan Family Winery “Nancie” Chardonnay simply WOWED the venerable critic, who rated it 94 points. Parker’s protégé, Antonio Galloni, came in at 92 points for a “beautifully focused” Chardonnay that “pulses with energy and drive.”

The spring of 2013 was warm, making for early flowering and an excellent, regular fruit set. The summer months, much like 2012, were mild and dry. There were no significant heat spikes and nights were cool, a perfect climatic recipe for world-class Chardonnay.

The 2013 “Nancie” Chardonnay grapes are sourced from a quartet of high-elevation, rocky soil Sonoma sites facing the Petaluma Wind Gap. Three of the vineyards are in the coastal region of Sonoma Valley, perched on Sonoma Mountain at around 2,200 feet above sea level. As nights remain cool, warmer air rises from the valley floor, and the grapes continue ripening overnight, but without accumulating more sugar. As a result, Joe harvests them earlier, at lower potential alcohol levels, but maintaining round, rich flavors. Chardonnay drawn from 30-year-old vines on the fourth site, in the Russian River Valley at a high-elevation vineyard, contributes precision and dazzling minerality.

All told, the 2013 Donelan Family Winery Chardonnay Nancie is beautifully perfumed and sexy, showing the suppleness of the vintage. There’s just enough roundness and richness to let you know that it’s Chardonnay you’re drinking, but brimming with energy, freshness and mouthwatering acidity, bringing a mineral core into laser-like focus. Fermented after a short maceration time on the skins, and aged in just 15% new oak barrels for 12 months, the wine is bursting with what Parker calls “crisp pear notes along with citrus blossom and wet rocks.” The Wine Advocate raves about its “fresh, concentrated, locked-and-loaded style.” In line with Donelan’s mineral-driven approach, Parker notes the “terrific acidity and modest alcohol,” which gives it “wonderful uplift and vibrancy. Drink it over the next 4-5 years.”

If you can get your hands on a bottle, you’ll taste all 94 Parker points in the Donelan “Nancie” Chardonnay. But we wouldn’t be surprised if Joe decides to limit allocation only to restaurants and his mailing list. Today, 600 bottles are available to WineAccess members for a short time this morning.