Donelan vs Pax

I drank my first Donelan wine recently (small sample admittedly). Its night and day from the Pax wines that I’ve had. Much much lighter style. Much more food friendly. Easier to approach early.

The Pax that I have had are 2004> so again small sample, but those suckers are brutes even after long decants.

I would tend to agree Tyler has a different approach than Pax did when he was the winemaker. Drank an '08 Cuvée Christine on Sunday and it was darn good. Actually killed the entire bottle by myself in one evening which I can’t ever remember doing before.

oooh, I like hearing this…I might have to revisit these wines. I liked Pax in the past, a lot but I found that recently they were just too “big” for me. I felt bad because I liked the Donelan’s and wanted to keep supporting the winery

I’ve been impressed with Tyler’s '08s. I agree it’s a more elegant approach and I think will only get better as he gains experience with the vineyards.

Is it just me or does it seem strange that the Donelan wines are now considered elegant after Pax is gone, yet the Wind Gap wines that Pax makes are also considered more elegant than his work at Pax.

I’d say you’re seeing a change in style from Pax that started at Pax around '05 or '06 and continues at Wind Gap.

Wind Gap wines are more elegant. Markedly so. I asked Pax about it once. His explanation was “maturity”. Not the vines, the winemaker. I thought that was fascinating and surprisingly honest. And I’ve bought the new wines because they’re quite good. I like the approach. Some cab makers could improve their wines if they did the same thing.

I guess that says that the style of the wines wasn’t the cause of the break up.

The weather pattern has cooled as well. There’s a lot of good juice out there, and Donelan is right near the top of the try list. There’s so much good Syrah! Might have to have a Syrah tasting…

The 2008 Venus (Roussanne and Viognier) was astonishing, the rosé of Syrah was delightful and the first rose that I actually have enjoyed and the 2008 Moriah was better than the 89-91 score that Parker gave it.

Disclaimer: I received these wines as a press/trade sample.