2013 Donelan Venus
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2013 Venus is another terrific white from this estate and is 95% Roussanne and 5% Viognier. It offers exotic peach, honeydew melon, browned butter and lots of minerality. Complex, nuanced and layered, it has plenty of heft on the palate yet stays lively fresh and balanced, with a great finish that shows plenty of acidity and cut. Drink it anytime over the coming couple of years, and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see this keep even longer.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Joe Donelan's very successful white is the Roussanne-Viognier blend called Venus. The 2013 Venus, which comes from three vineyards: the Dry Stack Vineyard, which I love for Sauvignon Blanc as well; the Vivio Vineyard and Kobler Vineyard all in Green Valley. The blend is 98% Roussanne and 2% Viognier. The 2013 is a beauty with lots of rose petals, lychee, honeysuckle are followed by a crisp, medium-bodied very stylish wine that seems to have much more minerality than most Roussannes tend to offer as they frequently can get quite oily and rich, but an interesting in that style as well. Nice tropical note of mandarin oranges also makes an appearance in this zesty blend, which was barrel-aged ten months in , I assume, relatively neutral oak puncheons, so as not to interfere with the fruit character. Drink over the next several years.