Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to head south and meet
with two representatives from Donati Family Vineyard. A new
vineyard enterprise, Donati is located in Paicines (pronounced
pie-SEE-ness) in southeast San Benito County. After one wrong turn,
I found the vineyard nestled in the rolling hillsides that are a
mere 27 miles from Monterey.
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to head south and meet with two representatives from Donati Family Vineyard. A new vineyard enterprise, Donati is located in Paicines (pronounced pie-SEE-ness) in southeast San Benito County. After one wrong turn, I found the vineyard nestled in the rolling hillsides that are a mere 27 miles from Monterey.
I was warmly greeted by Matt Donati, owner and vineyard manager, and Lee Stipp, who is in charge of sales and marketing. We wasted no time in getting acquainted, and we decided the best way to take in the sprawling vineyard was to jump into Matt’s truck and see the land up close.
The first thing that popped out in my mind was the pristine quality of the vineyard. “Our goal is to grow grapes and make wines of the best possible caliber,” Matt said. “And we work hard to keep the vineyard looking great and always welcome the unexpected visitor.”
That made a lot sense to me. Matt definitely keeps the vineyard immaculate, and I am versed at being the unexpected visitor!
Matt and his father, Ron, had a burgeoning love affair with wine that dates back to their Italian heritage. A friend in the real estate business let them know that an old vineyard in Paicines was available, and the rest is history.
“Many people are not familiar with the Paicines area. For most, Paicines might as well be in Fresno,” Stipp quipped.
Paicines lies in the Central Coast American Viticultural Area, which means it has been officially designated a grape-growing area in the United States by the U.S. government. The Donatis said they feel that hard work and producing great wines will help establish the Paicines American Viticultural Area as a growing region with the same potential as neighboring American Viticultural Areas, such as Mount Harlan and Chalone.
Like other coastal growing areas, Donati Family Vineyard enjoys long, warm days and cool night breezes from the ocean, a climate conducive to yielding top-quality fruit.
“We can see a 45-degree swing in temperature in just one day,” Matt said.
About 400 acres of the 1,000-acre estate are planted with many different varietals, including pinot blanc, pinot grigio, chardonnay, syrah, petite verdot, malbec, merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon.
“We really are farmers first,” Matt said. “We want to do what’s right in the vineyard so that this can be expressed in our wines.”
Donati Vineyard works with renowned winemaker Dan Kleck, who has been producing premium wines for the past 28 years. After getting his start in the Long Island region in New York, Kleck moved to California in 1998, the same year that Donati Family Vineyard was started.
Kleck, who previously worked for Kendall-Jackson Monterey Winery, focuses on up-and-coming vineyards that have exceptional fruit and locations to develop artisan wine projects. The first releases occurred mostly in the last year.
“A lot of people bought futures of our wine, which was exciting at the time,” Stipp said. “Now we are working hard to get the word out about Donati.”
Letting more people know about the vineyard means long hours of knocking on doors and talking to many distributors. Donati sells its wine in parts of California and Canada.
Judges in the 2006 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition recently named Donati’s 2003 claret “best in class.” This wine had ripe, fruity flavors of plum and berry. It also happens to be Donati’s best seller and is $18.
The 2003 estate cabernet sauvignon, $25, is one of Donati’s flagship wines. I was impressed with my first sip, but at the time, the wine was a bit too cold. Once warmed, it opened up beautifully and highlighted tastes of licorice and berry. The wine also had a nice smokiness.
The 2003 chardonnay, $18, was nicely balanced. Sixty percent of the wine was barrel-fermented for flavor complexity, while 40 percent was fermented in stainless-steel tanks to retain the fruit character. This combination forms good texture and a nice mouth feel, and it avoids the heavy oak found in a lot of today’s chardonnays.
I really liked the 2003 merlot, $22, which was blended with a small percentage of both cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, giving it good muscle and a distinct finish that was very satisfying. Other releases include a 2003 meritage and a 2003 pinot blanc.
The future looks bright for the Donati family and their team of wine lovers, who are hoping to open a winery on their property in the future. Now in the planning stage, this state-of-the-art facility is designed to capture the quality of the estate fruit and the motto of Donati Vineyard: Family – Estate – Vision.
Bottle of the Week
Guglielmo Winery
Morgan Hill
www.guglielmowinery.com
Wine: 2003 Santa Clara Valley zinfandel
Price: $16 at the winery
Why: This is a nice wine to enjoy now that the weather’s warming up. It’s delicious paired with pasta and has a middle-weight tannin structure.
Where: The wine can be purchased at the winery, 1480 E. Main Ave. in Morgan Hill, at Safeway and Nob Hill, and at various local restaurants. Call the winery at
(408) 779-2145.
