2014 Donelan Syrah Cuvee Christine Sonoma County

Legendary Critic’s “Delicious!” California Rhône-Style Red

Critical praise for Donelan swings back and forth amongst the titans we love to read:

“As for the wines, they are all terrific,” exclaimed Antonio Galloni after a recent visit. Robert Parker has gushed over their single-vineyard Kobler Syrahs, comparing them to “Guigal single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie” with their “elegance and complexity.”

Parker’s longtime Rhône expert, Jeb Dunnuck published an article titled: “Donelan Family Wines: Singular, Cool-Climate Beauties from Sonoma,” in which he bragged, “I’ve been reviewing the wines from the Donelan family for over a decade now, and they continue to fashion world-class, cool-climate examples of Rhône varieties (particularly Syrah).”

Pound for pound, the Cuvée Christine is Donelan’s most value-driven wine—a postcard from Sonoma that encapsulates everything we love about Syrah and Northern California’s cool-climate neighborhood. “I give people this wine when we first introduce them to Donelan,” Cushing Donelan told us, while reminding us it was the first Donelan we’d ever tasted—it’s still one of our favorites.

In the years since, over dinners with Cush and adventures to their Sonoma vineyards and Santa Rosa tasting room, “delicious” has been par for the course at Donelan tastings. Whether we sip their powerful, complex reds in the office, between the vines, or over a white-tablecloth meal, their Northern-Rhône styling and spicy attributes leave us begging for more. The experience fully applies to this 2014 Donelan Cuvée Christine—a blend of estate Syrah grapes from two very special Sonoma vineyards. After the mailing list, and select restaurants, Wine Access clients are first in line for this juicy, black cherry and blue-fruited, savory-spiced, velvety red.

Two of Donelan’s estate vineyards—Kobler and Lawer—have proved capable of delivering Northern Rhône structure with that classic savory-smoky minerality on par with France’s best but marked by the longer sun-streaked days of California’s 38th parallel. The grapes from these sites make up the Cuvée Christine.

Barrel-aged for 21 months in one-third new French Oak, the marriage of one-third whole-cluster pressing with native yeast fermentation delivers a deep garnet wine with marvelous dark-berry and crushed blue-violet floral aromas. Ripe and juicy, the 2014 Cuvée Christine is layered with black cherry, blackberry, mountain blueberry, smoked meat, and black pepper. Fleshy and soft, in its prime, with soft velvety tannins. “Rich, powerful and intense, but like all of these wines, it delivers that intensity in a relatively medium-bodied style,” raved Antonio Galloni in his 93+ point review, who added, “deeply spiced, floral and savory, the 2014 is super-expressive, even at this early stage.”

The 2014 is a twist from previous renditions of Cuvée Christine: “It’s the first vintage we swapped out Walker Vine Hill fruit for our estate Kobler grapes which, courtesy of the site’s Goldridge Soils, makes it more Northern Rhône in structure, rustic and refined,” explained Cush.  

Combined with the winery’s “Swiss army knife,” Lawer vineyard, which adds smokey, mineral tones to the wine, Cuvée Christine emerges as an absolutely riveting under-$50 red.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.10%
• 30 mins
• Now – 2028
• % Syrah
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork