Donum Estate Fall Release Party in San Francisco November 18, 2010

The new Donum Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are here! If you missed out on the highly allocated 96pt Donum West Slope Pinot Noir (one of Wine Spectator's highest rated Pinot Noirs) last year, this is your chance to secure your allocation of the new vintage before it is gone!

At the Donum Estate Fall Release Party, the following wines will be poured in the tasting and a limited number of wines will be available for purchase at the ev...ent.

2008 Donum Carneros Chardonnay ($50)
- Rated 92pts by Wine Spectator last vintage
2007 Donum Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($65)
- Rated 92pts by Wine Spectator
2007 Donum Carneros Pinot Noir ($65)
- Rated 93pts by Wine Spectator
2008 Donum West Slope Pinot Noir ($85)
- Rated 96pts by Wine Spectator last vintage
- Rated 95pts by The Pinot Report last vintage

To secure your tasting, you can save $5 purchase advanced tickets at http://donumestate2010fallrelease.eventbright.com/. For complete information on the tasting time and location, see the information below.

DONUM ESTATE 2010 Fall Release Party
Thu 11/18 5:30p-8:00p

at Winery Collective Tasting Room
485 Jefferson St @ Hyde St
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-929-9463
[email protected]
Cost: $20 in advance / $25 at the door
Tickets: http://donumestate2010fallrelease.eventbright.com/

PS: If you can't make it down to the event, please call us to phone in your order so that you don't miss out on this year's allocation as we may be sold out of our allocation at the tasting room of some of the wines shortly after the event.

ABOUT DONUM ESTATE

Donum wines are routinely outstanding, typically among the highest-scoring Pinot Noirs from the Carneros region.
-- M.W. Wine Spectator Sep 30, 2010

Few vintners in Carneros are more capable at growing Pinot Noir than Anne Moller-Racke, who has farmed wine grapes in the region for nearly 30 years. “You can’t separate the vineyard from the winemaking—and Pinot Noir is so site-specific. I try to find the potential or “voice” of each of the vineyards.”
-- M.W. Wine Spectator Sep 30, 2010

Anne Moller-Racke: President and Winegrower

A native of Oberwesel, Germany, Anne Moller-Racke came to California in 1981 and became vineyard manager for Buena Vista Carneros Winery in 1983. She was named director of vineyard operations in 1988 and was promoted to vice president of vineyard operations in 1997.

During that time, Anne worked intensively with some of the industry’s foremost authorities, including Andre Tchelistcheff, Dr. Phil Freese and Dr. Paul Skinner. She helped establish what is now the Carneros Wine Alliance and brought recognition to Carneros as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). Anne was instrumental in developing Buena Vista’s Carneros Estate, now the appellation’s largest vineyard, expanding the planted acreage from 540 in 1981 to 935 a decade later, and supplying fruit to premier producers like Acacia, Etude and Sterling. In the 1990s, she also replanted over 500 acres, carefully innovating viticultural practices and selecting rootstocks, clones, trellising and irrigation techniques for each vineyard block.

When Allied Domecq purchased Buena Vista in 2001, the Racke family retained Tula Vista Ranch, now Donum Ranch and home to The Donum Estate. Today, Anne farms 70 acres of vines at the home ranch, 20 acres of the venerable Ferguson Block in Carneros, and the Nugent Vineyard, an 11-acre Russian River Valley estate she planted in the mid-1990s. As caretaker of vineyards she has farmed for decades, Anne brings a vast knowledge of the appellations and sites to her role as wine grower for both Donum and its sibling label, Robert Stemmler. As president of The Donum Estate, Anne's management style inspires a committed team to work with the utmost pride and care on its "ultimate Pinot Noir project.”

Kenneth Juhasz: Consulting Winemaker

Kenneth Juhasz (YOU haas) began his winemaking career dragging hoses in a cold cellar in Oregon. His interest in enology had grown as he worked his way through school in fine restaurants and the local wine shop in his native North Carolina. After college, Kenneth eagerly pursued his passion for Pinot Noir west to the Willamette Valley. There he began working with winemaker Ken Bernards, who became Kenneth's mentor over the next few years.

When Juhasz came to Carneros in 2002, Bernards helped him to create and launch the "ultimate Pinot Noir project” at The Donum Estate and to develop a fresh identity for the Robert Stemmler label. Kenneth was appointed winemaker for both Donum and Robert Stemmler in 2005. Committed to working tirelessly through each harvest and to obtaining maximum quality in the vineyards with wine grower Anne Moller-Racke, Kenneth has succeeded in creating wines of power and elegance that are true expressions of site.

While enhancing his knowledge with forays to Oregon and the South Island of New Zealand, where he spearheaded a start-up Pinot Noir operation at Hinton Estate, Kenneth remains dedicated to producing outstanding wines from estate vineyards in the Carneros and Russian River Valley appellations. He also produces fine Burgundian varietal wines from Sonoma, Mendocino and Oregon's Willamette Valley under his own label, Auteur.