Hamel Family Wines
Dry-farmed Biodynamic vineyards on volcanic ground in the Moon Mountain District, and a chef cooking five courses against them for $225. Every tasting caps at six people.1
Why go
The Estate House sits behind a grove of hundred-year-old olive trees, against a slope of oak woodland and manzanita chaparral, and the salons inside are built out of black walnut, travertine and basalt.1 The tours go through the winery and into the caves under it.1 Nuns Canyon is the highest site the family farms and the one the winery treats as its defining vineyard.1 Thomas Mendel cooks the pairings; the winery says he was named Best Young Chef, World 2024, and does not say who by.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Chef's Experience, $225, two hours, if the food is the point. Winery and cave tour, then a communal seated tasting of library and current Biodynamic estate wines against five courses.1
- Order: the Nuns Canyon Experience, $125, ninety minutes, if the site is the point.1
- Avoid: planning for a group. Six guests is the ceiling on all three experiences, and larger parties go through the concierge on 707-996-5800.1
Good to know
- Reservations run seven days at 10:00, 1:00 and 3:30.1
- The entry-level Estate Experience is $95 for ninety minutes with a chef-made seasonal bite.1
- The turning is off Sonoma Highway and the estate is up a private drive, which is why a map pin dropped on the highway address lands more than half a kilometre from the tasting room.
Verdict
could-visit — Hamel dry-farms Biodynamic vineyards on volcanic hillside in the Moon Mountain District and runs a kitchen inside the winery rather than a cheese plate. The Chef's Experience is $225 for two hours: a walk through the winery and the cave, then a communal seated tasting of estate wines including library bottlings against five courses from Thomas Mendel. Nuns Canyon is the highest and most defining site and has its own $125 flight. Held here because every word of that is the winery's own account, nobody has published on the wines in anything I read, and the chef's competition title names no awarding body.