The 2025 harvest is officially in the books, and it proved to be an exceptional one. Mild winter weather led to an early budbreak, but the weather remained steady throughout the year, allowing for a long ripening season. In fact, July and August were even colder than in 2023—more on that shortly. This consistent weather, without major heat spikes or disruptive events, is ideal for achieving flavor ripeness without excessive sugar and, therefore, without excessive alcohol. While the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay still have a way to go before bottling, we recently finished blending the rosé and base wines for our sparkling, and both are outstanding.


Our vineyard crew continues their remarkable work, with our regenerative practices improving the health of our soils and vines every year. We have completed cover crop seeding, using up to 40 different plants tailored to the needs of each block. This ensures the cover crop not only stabilizes the soil but also returns essential micronutrients, provides a habitat for beneficial insects above ground, and supports soil fungi below ground that are critical to a healthy vine root system. By encouraging this healthy mycorrhizal network, we have significantly reduced our need for irrigation and fertilizer.

As for the wines in this shipment, we return to the aforementioned 2023 vintage—another cool year, though unlike 2025, it began with a cold, wet winter that led to a late budbreak. As a result, the vines completed final ripening during the shorter days of late September and early October, which provided a generous picking window and allowed us to pick each block at the ideal moment.

Many of you will be receiving two wines from our Russian River Valley vineyard that illustrate opposite ends of the stylistic spectrum. The 2023 Ten Oaks was harvested earlier, and about 25% of the blend was fermented with whole clusters. With this method, the berries remain intact, allowing a bit of carbonic fermentation to occur inside each berry, giving the wine a lift of fresh fruit. The stems add an herbal note and additional structure. By contrast, the 2023 Russian River Reserve is sourced from our later picks, where the extra hang-time results in riper, darker fruit flavors and a more robust, full-bodied mouthfeel. It may be interesting to open both side by side to experience these two distinct expressions of the same vineyard.

Others will receive a full set of our Single-Vineyard Pinot Noirs: Carneros and Three Hills from our Donum Vineyard; TFV from our neighboring Carneros site, just a mile from the Estate; Russian River Valley from our Ten Oaks Vineyard; and the first release of our Anderson Valley Pinot Noir from the historic Savoy Vineyard. Each wine achieves a balance between Donum’s concentrated, energetic style and the nuances of its respective terroir. Here too, it could be fun to open the full set for a comparative tasting—though you may want to invite a few friends over.

Cheers, and Happy Holidays!

Dan Fishman
Director of Winemaking & Vineyards, Winemaker