Hamel Family Wines

Hamel Family Wines is one of the Sonoma Valley's most ambitiously positioned and scenically dramatic mountain estates. George Hamel III — the son of a Merrill Lynch CEO who redirected his ambitions toward Sonoma Valley wine — established the Highway 12 estate in 2000 with a conviction that the ridge terrain between the Sonoma Valley floor and the Carneros AVA could produce Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir of genuine mountain character and critical distinction.

The 52-acre sustainably farmed estate sits on a ridge with spectacular views across both the Sonoma Valley and Carneros — a position that subjects the vines to the cooling influences of both the bay-driven Carneros winds and the mountain elevation, creating a genuinely distinctive microclimate for red wine production. The estate cave — built into the hillside for natural temperature control — provides the ideal aging environment for the Hamel Cabernet program's most ambitious expressions.

Winemaker Jamey Whetstone has shaped a program that consistently earns 92–96 point recognition for estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel — wines that show the mountain terroir's capacity for both power and elegance in a Sonoma Valley estate that very few visitors discover and that rewards those who make the appointment.