Hamel Family Ranch Red Wine 2013
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With its rich, dark red color, the valley floor estate vineyard wine telegraphs its magnitude with generous aromatic volume. Complex notes of black cherry, sage, graphite and vanilla overlay subtle caramelized tones. The wine coats the palate with dense, sweet black fruits, offering opulence, elegance and balance. A sense of intensity and freshness from the wine’s volcanic minerality add to the length of the finish. While the wine will provide great drinking pleasure in the near term, it is also suited to continue developing in the cellar over the next ten years.
At Hamel Family Wines, we strive to make great wine and to have fun doing so. We value quality over quantity, enjoyment over tedium and foster long-term recurring relationships with our guests. We work hard to produce the highest quality wines in limited quantities from grapes grown on our Sonoma Valley and Moon Mountain District estate vineyards. We farm our vineyards with organic and biodynamic practices, always mindful of our roles as responsible stewards of the land. We remain grateful for our guests, respectful of our neighbors and appreciate of the fine work that our team performs daily.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.