Score Breakdown
About Donelan Wines
Donelan Wines at 56 West Spain Street in downtown Sonoma is one of California's most focused and intellectually serious single-vineyard Syrah producers, founded in 2003 by Joe and Kathleen Donelan with a singular obsession: finding and expressing the most compelling cool-climate Syrah vineyard sites available in northern California.
The downtown Sonoma Plaza location makes Donelan one of the most accessible serious small-production labels in wine country — a walk-in tasting room where visitors can taste single-vineyard expressions from Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, and other northern California cool-climate sites without the appointment-only barrier that most comparable producers maintain. Syrah is the primary focus, with each vineyard bottling telling a different story about what cool-climate viticulture and site-specific soil profiles contribute to California's most exciting red variety.
Walk-ins are welcome daily from 11am to 5pm with a $30 starting fee. The downtown Sonoma location puts Donelan within easy walking distance of the Sonoma Plaza's restaurants, other tasting rooms, and the historic mission and barracks.