Stephen and Paula Hawkes bought the Home Ranch Vineyard in 1971 and planted Cabernet in 1972, twelve years before Alexander Valley became an AVA. The family farms eighty-five hillside acres of Cabernet, Merlot, and Chardonnay in the southern valley. Small lots, family-run, irreverent, and among the appellation's respected Cabernet houses.
Stephen Hawkes — born in New York City, schooled in Connecticut and California, briefly stationed in Washington DC — moved his family to a prune ranch in Healdsburg in 1971. He and his wife Paula bought the 65-acre Home Ranch Vineyard the same year and planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay in 1972: twelve years before Alexander Valley would be designated as an AVA, and at a time when most of the surrounding land was prunes, apples, hops, and mixed field crops. For three decades, the family sold their fruit to other producers. The Hawkes label launched in 2002 with the first Hawkes Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon — The flagship; 100% estate Cabernet, unobtrusively oaked and elegant.
Single-Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon — The Collector-tier bottlings drawn from the family's individual estate Cabernet blocks.
Estate Merlot, Alexander Valley — A single-vineyard Merlot in a restrained, Old World style.
Home Chardonnay, Alexander Valley — From the Chalk Hill Road ranch planted in 1972; crisp, lean, and citrus-driven.
The Hawkes family has farmed Alexander Valley Cabernet for over 40 years, supplying fruit to famed California wines before bottling under their own name in 2002.
Today the second generation — Jake and Giannina Hawkes — runs the family operation. The family farms over eighty-five acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay across three Alexander Valley properties: the original Home Ranch (planted 1971–72), the 120-acre Pyramid Vineyard on Chalk Hill Road (18 acres of Cabernet), and the Red Winery Road property. All vineyards are planted on sparsely-soiled hillsides, all yielding small amounts of intense fruit. Production is modest — 3,500 to 4,000 cases annually, almost entirely estate-grown and produced in Alexander Valley. The tasting room is family-run and unpretentious, with a picnic area, garden, and a vineyard dog named Capone. The Hawkes signature is the kind of irreverent wine country experience that has become harder to find as Alexander Valley has polished itself. Walk-ins welcomed; barrel and vineyard tastings by appointment.
Jake Hawkes is the winemaker of Hawkes Wine, the family estate his father Stephen Hawkes founded in the Alexander Valley, where he planted Cabernet Sauvignon in 1972 — four years before the Judgment of Paris, when prunes still outnumbered grapes in the valley. The Hawkes family grew grapes for decades before making wine under their own name, beginning around the turn of the 2000s when a grape contract fell through. Self-taught and unfussy, Jake bottles each wine as 100% of its named variety with no blending — a philosophy meant to let the family's hillside Cabernet, Merlot, and Chardonnay speak purely for the vineyards they come from. Hawkes pours at tasting rooms in the Alexander Valley by the Jimtown Store and on the Sonoma Plaza.
Stephen and Paula Hawkes bought a 65-acre farm in the southern Alexander Valley in 1971 and planted Cabernet Sauvignon in 1972 — a dozen years before the area became an appellation, when the valley still grew mostly prunes, apples, and hops. For three decades they were respected growers, selling their intensely flavored hillside fruit to others, until a contract fell through and they launched the Hawkes label with the 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet. Today the family farms more than eighty acres across the Stone, Pyramid, and Red Winery vineyards, with their son Jake making the wine from the grapes his parents first planted.
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Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon — The flagship; 100% estate Cabernet, unobtrusively oaked and elegant.
Single-Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon — The Collector-tier bottlings drawn from the family's individual estate Cabernet blocks.
Estate Merlot, Alexander Valley — A single-vineyard Merlot in a restrained, Old World style.
Home Chardonnay, Alexander Valley — From the Chalk Hill Road ranch planted in 1972; crisp, lean, and citrus-driven.
The Hawkes family has farmed Alexander Valley Cabernet for over 40 years, supplying fruit to famed California wines before bottling under their own name in 2002.
Stephen Hawkes — born in New York City, schooled in Connecticut and California, briefly stationed in Washington DC — moved his family to a prune ranch in Healdsburg in 1971. He and his wife Paula bought the 65-acre Home Ranch Vineyard the same year and planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay in 1972: twelve years before Alexander Valley would be designated as an AVA, and at a time when most of the surrounding land was prunes, apples, hops, and mixed field crops. For three decades, the family sold their fruit to other producers. The Hawkes label launched in 2002 with the first Hawkes Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
Today the second generation — Jake and Giannina Hawkes — runs the family operation. The family farms over eighty-five acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay across three Alexander Valley properties: the original Home Ranch (planted 1971–72), the 120-acre Pyramid Vineyard on Chalk Hill Road (18 acres of Cabernet), and the Red Winery Road property. All vineyards are planted on sparsely-soiled hillsides, all yielding small amounts of intense fruit. Production is modest — 3,500 to 4,000 cases annually, almost entirely estate-grown and produced in Alexander Valley. The tasting room is family-run and unpretentious, with a picnic area, garden, and a vineyard dog named Capone. The Hawkes signature is the kind of irreverent wine country experience that has become harder to find as Alexander Valley has polished itself. Walk-ins welcomed; barrel and vineyard tastings by appointment.
Jake Hawkes is the winemaker of Hawkes Wine, the family estate his father Stephen Hawkes founded in the Alexander Valley, where he planted Cabernet Sauvignon in 1972 — four years before the Judgment of Paris, when prunes still outnumbered grapes in the valley. The Hawkes family grew grapes for decades before making wine under their own name, beginning around the turn of the 2000s when a grape contract fell through. Self-taught and unfussy, Jake bottles each wine as 100% of its named variety with no blending — a philosophy meant to let the family's hillside Cabernet, Merlot, and Chardonnay speak purely for the vineyards they come from. Hawkes pours at tasting rooms in the Alexander Valley by the Jimtown Store and on the Sonoma Plaza.
Stephen and Paula Hawkes bought a 65-acre farm in the southern Alexander Valley in 1971 and planted Cabernet Sauvignon in 1972 — a dozen years before the area became an appellation, when the valley still grew mostly prunes, apples, and hops. For three decades they were respected growers, selling their intensely flavored hillside fruit to others, until a contract fell through and they launched the Hawkes label with the 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet. Today the family farms more than eighty acres across the Stone, Pyramid, and Red Winery vineyards, with their son Jake making the wine from the grapes his parents first planted.
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