George Hamel Jr. spent his career in private equity (a partnership at Blum Capital, then co-founding ValueAct Capital in San Francisco in 2000) before he and his wife Pam bought what was meant to be a vacation home in Kenwood in 2006. The property came with an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon vines. Hamel thought they'd bottle a little wine to share with friends. They produced 290 cases of their first vintage that year, with Julia Iantosca consulting; six adjacent acres followed, then the former Hearst property on Highway 12 just five miles north of Sonoma Plaza became the family's working estate, opening to the public in 2014.
Isthmus: the flagship Cabernet-dominant Bordeaux-style blend, drawn from the valley-floor and Moon Mountain estates (Wine Advocate 96).
Hamel Family Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Valley: supple, fruit-forward Cabernet from the home vineyard in the Mayacamas foothills.
Nuns Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon, Moon Mountain District: powerful, structured mountain Cabernet from volcanic soils at about 1,200 to 1,600 feet.
Grenache: a bright, savory red from the high-elevation Nuns Canyon estate.
Sauvignon Blanc: a crisp, mineral white from organically and biodynamically farmed estate fruit.
Today Hamel is a fully family-run operation. George Jr. is President; sons George III (MBA, Sonoma State Wine Business Institute) and John (UW-Madison journalism, UC Davis winemaking certification) manage the business; daughter Casey handles administration. John took over as lead winemaker in 2017 after years working alongside consultant Martha McClellan, and has since redirected the program around volcanic terroir and dry farming. Chilean terroir consultant Pedro Parra now maps the vineyards by soil polygon; Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, and Sauvignon Blanc are vinified separately by site. The three estate vineyards, Hamel Estate and Tres Palmas in Sonoma Valley and Nuns Canyon in the Moon Mountain District, are certified organic and biodynamic; Nuns Canyon and Tres Palmas are entirely dry-farmed, and the home estate partly. The contemporary Estate House, set behind hundred-year-old olive trees with views over the valley floor and Sonoma Mountain, offers private seated tastings with Chef Thomas Mendel's small bites and tours of the 12,000-square-foot wine cave seven days a week.
