Donum Estate

24500 Ramal Rd, Sonoma, CA 95476

Website: https://www.thedonumestate.com/

Donum Estate is located in a very pretty spot in Carneros nestled between hills of vines.  This is a fascinating place to visit for art enthusiasts, or for people like me who know only a little about art but can appreciate the beauty of it.  The winery and art is owned by Mei and Allan Warburg. They started out in 2001 wanting to create “the ultimate pinot noir project”, so they brought in acclaimed winemaker Anne Moller-Racke.  It also provided the perfect venue for them to showcase their international contemporary art collection. The partnership between the Warburgs and Anne Moller-Racke turned out to be a great success, producing premium pinot noir and chardonnay that earn the highest accolades year over year. As of June 2019, Anne announced she was moving on to pursue her own projects after 18 years at Donum.

Sanna at Donum Estate

The experiences and wine tasting at Donum are by reservation only.  They offer two options – a 90 minute tasting and walking tour or a 2 hour RTV tour.  Both experiences include a seated, personal tasting experience and a tour of the property.  The property drew us in from the moment we pulled up to the gate and pushed the call button to be let in.  As we drove along the path to the winery we saw looming in front of us a giant head statue named “Sanna”, created by Jaume Plensa.  It’s truly amazing to look at! We continued to drive around to the entrance of the winery, passing by other intriguing pieces of art.  You can’t help getting immersed in sculptures, like the huge, spotted pumpkin sitting in a pool right outside the entrance to the tasting room.

Wine tasting experience at Donum Estate

Inside the tasting room lobby is stark white and immaculate.  One side of the room has windows from ceiling to floor looking out at vineyards.  There was some more fascinating artwork in the lobby. Our host greeted us immediately and ushered us to a room for our personal tasting.  It was a cozy space with a center table and windows on two sides giving us a panoramic view of the vineyard. We had one-on-one attention from our host who talked us through five different wines.  We were given a leather-bound folder with tasting notes. We learned some of the history of the winery while we took our time sipping the award winning chardonnay and pinot noirs. They were exquisite wines. An interesting tidbit about the labels is that each of the vintages is named after the Chinese zodiac, which harkens to Allan Warburg’s life-long love of the Asian culture.

Crouching Spider

Once we finished our tasting, we went on a walking tour to see a lot more of the art.  Our first stop was to visit the steel sculpture called the Crouching Spider. This awe-inspiring piece created by Louise Bourgeois is so large that they built a building just to house the sculpture and protect it from weather.  We continued our walk around the property, stopping to admire works like the Maze made of brass coated stainless-steel tubes, the Contemporary Terracotta Warriors, and “Love Me”, a polished mirrored steel heart with a deep cavity in its center representing being hit by a powerful force.  There were many more great pieces. We ended our walk at the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, which is the real centerpiece of the property. Hearing about how the grounds crew has to upkeep the sculptures, polishing them regularly is impressive in itself.

I would totally recommend visiting the estate, both for the wine and art.  You will need to plan ahead as reservations are limited. I set up my reservation about a month in advance.  It was an amazing experience!