Press
Reviews
Wine Advocate
2019 Pamelita Reserve
The full-bodied palate offers intense flavor layers and a weightless feel, with ultra powdery tannins, seamless acidity and a hauntingly floral finish. Balanced and über classy, it’s a pleasure to drink now but will develop over the next 15+ years in the cellar.
Jeb Dunnuck
2019 Pamelita Reserve
Aromatically, this would have great appeal for Napa wine lovers who are looking to extend their reach. Ripe and velvety in texture, with good freshness and impeccable balance, this is packed with a lot to love for drinking across many styles… and can be enjoyed over the next 20 years.
Wine Advocate
2018 Pamelita Reserve
Deep ruby in color, it has stony, graphite-laced scents to begin before opening with air—and it’s totally worth the wait. It bursts with aromas of Morello cherries, dried herbs, violet, forest floor and tobacco plus intoxicating wafts of incense.
Jeb Dunnuck
2020 Nuns Canyon
Aged in cask, this is one of the more successful offerings from this vintage that I’ve tasted to date. It has penetrating mineral accents with supple, silky tannins, and it should improve with cellaring and age gracefully over the coming 20 or more years.
Wine Advocate
2019 Nuns Canyon
If you haven’t discovered Hamel, it looks as though they merit serious attention from wine consumers… The full-bodied palate embodies power and weightlessness, with ultra powdery tannins and refreshing acidity that draws out its fragrance. Its flavors are pure yet complex, and it finishes with haunting iron and violet character.
Wine Advocate
2018 Nuns Canyon
It takes significant time in the glass to begin to reveal its aromas of Morello cherries, thyme and cedar, but the palate is already wonderfully balanced. It boasts concentrated flavors, abundant, powdery tannins and refreshing acidity, with haunting graphite and floral character defining the long finish.
Features
14 Organic Wines & Perfect Pairings – Hidden Gems from Underrated Regions
Organic Authority | Sep 10, 2024
Petra Polakovicova, Advanced Sommelier and Hamel Hospitality Manager suggests pairing Isthmus Cabernet Sauvignon with a wild mushroom pasta: “The mineral notes in the wine complement the umami flavors of the mushrooms.” Or serve it with a chocolate dessert smothered in a dark berry sauce complimenting its slight smokey and dark chocolate notes.
Dry Farming in American Viticulture? Irrigation and a Changing Climate
Decanter | July 2024
Hamel’s Armor Plate Vineyard, planted in the 1880s, still produced 2.75-3 tons per acre (approximately five metric tonnes per ha) with no irrigation when Hamel sold it last year. John Hamel, director of wine-growing, said, ‘The modern vineyard has a 25 to 30-year lifespan, yet Armor was over 120 years old. So, what gave it longevity? The lack of irrigation.
Wine Producer in Top California Wine Region Goes Against Advice and Decides to Dry Farm
Forbes | Oct 11, 2023
This more profound understanding of his vineyards has allowed John to properly manage the nuances of each section… He has pushed the vines to grow roots extremely deeply by limiting water, as vines with superficial roots will collapse without irrigation in an area such as Sonoma that has virtually zero rainfall most summers.
Hitting the Jackpot
Somm Journal | Aug-Sep 2024
Director of Winegrowing John Hamel explained the theory behind his decision to convert to dry farming while standing knee deep in one of the soil pits dug in the Nuns Canyon Vineyard in Sonoma County’s Moon Mountain District AVA. He recalled a conversation with a French winemaker who told him that irrigation can be detrimental to the expression of place.
The Sonoma Mountaintop Where Volcanic Soils Create Marquee Wines
Wine Enthusiast | May 2023
Up a steep, bumpy road on the northernmost edge of the appellation, Nun’s Canyon Vineyard sits between 1,300 and 1,700 feet in elevation. The site is steep and brimming in red clay loam soils, its underbelly a mixture of fractured basalt and gravel. The Hamels made their first Cabernet Sauvignon from here in 2013.
The Sonoma Winemakers Devoted to ‘Complete Control and Sense of Place’
Wine Enthusiast | January 2022
“In a certain sense it is more difficult to be a young winery focusing on a specific vineyard site and its expression than relying on the cachet of a well-known vineyard that is farmed by a grower,” Hamel says. “But we strongly believe that something is missed when the fruit is grown by one entity, and the wine is made by another.”
Drought Conditions Are Forcing Wineries to Change How They Grow Grapes
KQED and NPR | October 2021
On a foggy September morning farmworkers harvest plump, dark purple grapes at Hamel Family Wines in Sonoma County. But winemaker John Hamel II recognizes these Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are very different from others grown in Sonoma and Napa counties. The green vines are flourishing mostly without direct watering.
Must-Have Organic Wines from Northern California
Luxe Beat | May 16, 2024
Hamel Family Wines, a family-owned winery, is known for its commitment to organic farming. They produce small-batch wines using premium fruit grown in Sonoma Valley and Moon Mountain District Estate Vineyards. It all started in the early 2000s when Pamela and George Hamel, Jr. planted grapes behind their home in Sonoma.