It opens with a lovely nose of white pepper, honeysuckle and peaches with notes of fresh white pear and baker’s yeast plus a rocky vein. Medium to full-bodied, it offers fresh apple and pear fruit in the mouth with peppery/yeasty touches, lifted by juicy acidity and finishing with a pleasant touch of texture.\n \n Producer Information\n Donelan Family Wines is a boutique California wine company, producing single-vineyard wines in Sonoma County. It is most clearly recognized for its collection of highly rated Syrah wines. The company was formed in 2000 as Pax Cellars, and was a partnership between Joe Donelan and Pax Mahle, as financier and winemaker, respectively. This partnership dissolved in 2009, and Pax Cellars was rebranded as Donelan Family wines. Mahle went on to establish the Wind Gap brand. Donelan owns four estate vineyards to produce its limited-production wine portfolio – Obsidian, Walker Vine Hill, Kobler and Richard's Family – and sources additional fruit from Sonoma County growers. The company's first vineyard, Obsidian Vineyard, is located in Knights Valley and was planted over 30 years ago. The Walker Vine Hill and Kobler vineyards are located in the Russian River Valley, the latter in the cooler subregion of Green Valley. Donelan's most highly acclaimed Syrah is sourced from one of the warmer warmer vineyard sites in Sonoma Valley, Richard's Family Vineyard. The flaghsip of the Donelan Family wine portfolio is the Obsidian Estate Syrah. After a hand-pick in the vineyard, it is fermented with indigenous yeasts from the vineyard and cellar. It spends 22 months aging in 40-percent new oak barrels prior to bottling and will happily cellar for over a decade.
