Martin Donatsch

Coming Up

In Malans, Switzerland, Martin Donatsch works from within a place that already defines much of the brief: estate wine made with close attention to site, fruit, and cellar detail. As owner and winemaker at Weingut Donatsch, he carries both operational control and the technical demands of the role. Before that, he was winemaker at Domaine Donatsch in the same town, a prior position that kept the work anchored in Malans and built directly toward the post he now holds.

Where They Are Now

Today, the work at Weingut Donatsch in Malans, Switzerland sits with Martin Donatsch as both owner and winemaker. That means the daily decisions stay in the same hands that shape the broader direction of the estate, from cellar precision to how the wines are framed. His own language about the region is direct: fruit and wines from this area are the center of the conversation. In that sense, the role is less about distance or presentation than about staying close to the material and letting the place set the terms.

Signature

The listed wines point to a cellar built around Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with Martin Donatsch’s named bottlings showing repeated attention to those two grapes: Pinot Noir «Passion», Chardonnay “Passion” 2022, Chardonnay “Unique” 2020, and Chardonnay “Unique” 2023. The structure of the names suggests two lines of expression, with “Passion” and “Unique” marking different labels rather than different grapes. Read together, the signatures show a winemaker working from a defined regional base and returning to the same varieties with enough confidence to let vintage and label distinction carry the variation.

In Their Words “I am very lucky that we live in a fantastic region. Some of the best Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs in the world are produced here.” The remark is plain, and that plainness tells you something useful about the work. Martin Donatsch places the region first, then the grapes, then the wines they can make. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are not side notes in this view; they are the core of the estate’s identity and the reason the surrounding place matters so much to the cellar.

Honors

World Champion Pinot Noir Producer is the recognition attached to Martin Donatsch, and it places the work in an international frame without changing the basic terms of it.