The Donum Estate Sonoma Winery

The Donum Estate Sonoma

This is the third post in our series on Sonoma California! Other posts in this series include Harvest Moon Sonoma and La Salette Portuguese Cuisine.

I've been going to Napa and Sonoma pretty regularly for years now. After many visits, the experiences start to blur together. I can't remember at which wineries I tried which wines, and even the visits to the various caves and tasting rooms begin to blur together.

Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama at the Donum Estate Sonoma

That is, unless, I experience something so unique that there's really nothing quite like it.

Sanna by Jaume Plensa - driving up to the entrance of the Donum Estate Sonoma

For the weary wine tasting room traveler, Donum Estate is the perfect antidote. The Donum Estate, a winery focused on making California pinot noirs, is unlike any winery I've ever visited. What makes it unique is that the owner of the winery is also an art collector, and he houses many of these famous pieces right on the property.

The resulting visit is extremely special. Not only do you get to taste some fabulous wines and learn about Donum's specific winemaking practices, you also get to visit essentially a huge outdoor modern art exhibit interspersed amongst the vineyards. It's breathtaking and so special.

King and Queen, Keith Haring, 1987 with the silver heart called Love Me, Richard Hudson, 2016

Visits to Donum Estates in Sonoma are by appointment only. The tour takes about 1.5 - 2 hours and includes a tasting of at least five wines.

The cost of the tour is $80 USD per guest, but can be waived if enough wine is purchased (I think 3 bottles, but I can't exactly remember). We enjoyed the tasting quite a lot. They were quite generous with the wines, actually. After we started to figure out which types of wines we liked more, they actually let us try a few extra ones that fit our style.

We bought a whole case and lugged it back to Hong Kong with us!

The tasting room, which was only recently finished, is absolutely gorgeous and has stunning views of the surrounding vineyards.
They  have an impressive collection, and they have won many awards.
 
The 1.5-2 tour includes a walking tour of the facilities (where you get to visit the various art pieces and learn a bit about the history) as well as the wine tasting.

Since the tour is private, it's quite flexible. We decided to go for the tour of the grounds first since we weren't sure if it would rain later (in fact, the sun came out later while we were wine tasting!).

The tour was fun, and overall I think Donum Estate is one of the coolest and most unusual winery tours I've been on. The art collection is massive and impressive. The tasting room is beautiful, and the wines are quite good.

Below you can see some of the art we saw. It's not a comprehensive list, but it gives you a pretty good idea.  You'll also see how stunning the place looks when the sun comes out!

Crouching Spider by Louise Bourgeois

King and Queen by Keith Haring, 1987

Hombre Caminante (Walking Man) by Fernando Botero, 1999

Contemporary Terra Cotta Warriors by Yue Minjun

Another view of all the warriors, with Bryan as a size reference.

The Architecture of Life by Mark Quinn

Morning Glory by Sopheap Pich

Circle of Animals, Zodiac Signs by Ai Weiwei

Non Violence by Carl Fredrik Reutersward

The Donum Estate Sonoma
Contact: [email protected] or +1-707-732-2200 to make an appointment

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