Today is an important and bittersweet day in the history of Donelan Family wines. We’re announcing the departure of Tyler Thomas, our trusted winemaker, friend, partner and now consultant. However, it’s with great excitement that we promote our assistant winemaker Joe Nielsen, to his new position of head winemaker at Donelan Family wines.
We are thrilled with the next step in our growth as a premier Sonoma winery that makes great wines from spectacular sites.
Tyler, who we were very happy to hire five years ago, helped my winery rise from the ashes of a broken partnership and helped define the vision for Donelan Family wines. He was responsible for five great vintages and the hiring of Joe Nielsen four and a half years ago. Words cannot express our thanks and gratitude but separately the foresight of Tyler’s in bringing Joe Nielsen to us. We believe Joe will continue to build the strong Donelan brand as we strive in our pursuit of wine making excellence. Tyler will continue with us as a consulting winemaker for the 2012 & 2013 vintages.
Creating and sharing beautiful wine is a very personal experience for us and we want all who taste our wines to feel as though they’re part of the Donelan Family. We value honesty and transparency above all, so please reach out with any questions, comments or concerns.
Best wishes to Tyler in the next chapter of his career!
I think wines like the Kobler and Walker Vine Hill aren’t badly priced, but they are IMO at the very top end of what they should be fetching. The Christine and Venus are simply overpriced. Richards and Obsidian have undergone dramatic price increases after garnering high Parker Points, which says to me that Donelan are more interested in cashing in on points chasers, than they are in maintaining the loyal following they inherited from the Pax days. It’s a shame because I like the guys making the wines and I like the vineyards.
I’m a big fan of the Walker and the Nancie chard, which I think are both worth, but the shipping is usually one the highest around so I usually wait for the free shipping deal
I bought a bunch of Pax and early Donelan when joe was blowing them out post-breakup. I liked some, loved a couple (the Richards being one), but I’ve shied away from subsequent orders. I was gonna reorder Richards, but I think the price scared me away. Lots of good wine out there these days and only so much money and cellar space. Joe always was a good guy on the phone and a good salesman.
Tyler Thomas Appointed Director of Winemaking
For Santa Barbara County’s
Dierberg & Star Lane Wineries
Santa Barbara, CA – Tyler Thomas has been appointed Winemaker for two of Santa Barbara County’s more popular wine producers, Dierberg Vineyards and Star Lane Vineyards, both owned by the Dierberg Family.
Thomas will oversee production at the wineries, both located within the greater Santa Barbara County appellation. Dierberg Vineyards produces site-driven Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from its estate vineyards in Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria.
Star Lane is located in the Happy Canyon sub-appellation, where the focus is on producing Bordeaux-variety-based wines of elegance and typicity.
Thomas completed his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Botany at Colorado State University, and received a masters in Viticulture and Enology at U.C. Davis. Before joining Dierberg and Star Lane, he was the winemaker at Donelan Family Wines in Sonoma County.
He credits his French grandmother for instilling in him a profound appreciation for all things epicurean.
“I’m am very happy to be calling Santa Barbara County my new home. I have long admired both the people and the wines from the area and am excited to get the chance to work with such incredible estate properties. We have loved living in Sonoma County, and we’re looking forward to setting down some roots in Santa Barbara.”
He continues, “My first full-time harvest job, as an intern, was in 2003 at Fiddlehead Cellars. The entire valley made its imprint on me then as I sampled vineyards in both Happy Canyon and Sta. Rita Hills. To be returning now after 10 years to make site driven estate wines is thrilling.”
Sad to lose Tyler from N. CA. He is a fantastic winemaker and a great guy as well.
Donelan is in excellent hands with Joe Nielsen. I look forward to seeing his impact. I always thought that he and Tyler were one of the most under-the-radar great winemaking teams in So. Co.