How Chinese contemporary sculptures took pride of place in art lover’s Californian winery
Pieces by Ai Weiwei, Yue Minjun and Zhan Wang stand out among the works on the Donum wine estate, where Allan Warburg has mixed his two loves – wine and art – with spectacular results
The approach to the Donum Estate winery passes through some of the most striking scenery in the United States. Starting in San Francisco, it takes visitors over the Golden Gate Bridge, and along roads winding for miles between the hills of Napa Valley, surrounded by vistas more reminiscent of Tuscany than anything in the New World.
Nothing prepares you for Donum itself. The property is breathtaking, all oblique sunlight, sparkling water, and gently waving fields of lavender. But what everybody notices first when they turn into the estate is Sanna, the 2015 sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa.
The stark white head towers above you, its eyes seemingly following your car up the gravel drive.
It’s impossible not to imagine the front gate to Donum being a portal into another realm, an impression that only grows as you wander the 80-hectare (200-acre) grounds. Donum is, in a word, otherworldly.
The Donum name is familiar to wine lovers. The label has three wine-producing properties in California and makes some of the finest pinot noir in the United States. But this property in Sonoma – thanks to majority owner Allan Warburg and his wife, Mei – is about to become a place of pilgrimage for both art lovers and oenophiles.
In September, the sculpture collection at Donum was officially launched; it boasts one of the finest collections of large-scale international art anywhere in the world, including works from the most acclaimed Chinese artists working today.