Donum

Donum was founded in 2001 by Anne Moller-Racke, as the “ultimate Pinot Noir project”, focusing on single-site expressions of fine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The name comes from the Latin for “gift”, which the team considers their land to be.

The estate is based in Carneros, on the border between Napa and Sonoma, with 120 acres of vines spread across a 220-acre property. This, the Donum Vineyard, is also home to the Donum Collection, one of the world’s largest accessible private sculpture collections, with over 50 works by artists including Ai Weiwei, Tracey Emin, Louise Bourgeois, Antony Gormley, Anselm Kiefer among others.

Today the estate is owned by Allan and Mei Warburg (who took over in 2019) and appointed Angelica de Vere Mabray as CEO. They work 200 acres of vines across four different estate vineyards in Carneros, Russian River Valley, Anderson Valley and Sonoma Coast.

The range is extensive but focused on single-site, and sometimes single-clone, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, currently with 17 different Pinot Noir cuvées and five Chardonnays, as well as a sparkling, rosé and Merlot.

Donum Vineyard in Carneros is their home turf, where the winery is located, with vineyard plantings dating back to 1990. Their largest site, it is responsible for the majority of their range, with nine Pinot Noirs (Carneros, East Slope, West Slope, Home Ranch, Hypersonic, Mikado Tree, Pearl, Three Hills and White Barn) and three Chardonnays (Carneros, Carneros Reserve and The Heron). They also make a Pinot Noir from the separate Thomas Vineyard in Carneros, planted in 1974 and which they have worked with since 2001 but acquired in 2016 and have since entirely replanted.

In the Russian River Valley, they have the Winside Vineyard which was planted in 1997 and acquired in 2013. The 14-acre site is the source for four Pinot Noirs (Russian River Valley, Russian River Valley Reserve, Heritage Clones and Ten Oaks) and two Chardonnays (Russian River Valley and Goldfields), from two acres that were grafted over to Chardonnay in 2015.

For a long time, Donum leased vines in Anderson Valley in the Angel Camp Vineyard (planted in 2006), from which they made their Anderson Valley, Angel Camp and Observer Pinot Noirs. In 2023, they purchased the 52-acre Savoy Vineyard – meaning that moving forward all the Donum wines will be made with estate fruit.

In 2020, the estate planted vines near the town of Bodega on the Sonoma Coast.

Farming is organic and regenerative (certified from 2022), with a clear focus on soil health and site expression. Dan Fishman has been the winemaker for years, having joined the team as an intern in 2007. Vinification is broken down by plot with only native yeast used, and whole-bunch fermentation used on some Pinot Noir cuvées. Only free-run juice is used. Most of the wines are aged in oak for around 16 months (The Heron Chardonnay is a notable exception aged in concrete).

Production is around 10,000 cases per year, with the wines historically sold exclusively via their mailing list to private clients.