Hamel Family Wines Stratum Sonoma Valley 2020

Profile & Story

Hamel Family Wines is a family-owned and managed estate in Sonoma Valley, founded by Pamela and George Hamel Jr., who began growing grapes on a one-acre parcel behind their Kenwood home before producing their first 290 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon in 2006. Under the direction of John Hamel and the winemaking team, the estate practices dry farming and organic and Biodynamic viticulture, applying a micro-terroir-based approach tailored to its volcanic soils and prioritizing the connection between wine and place. The 2020 Stratum is a blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon and 34% Merlot from the Sonoma Valley appellation, sourced primarily from the Nuns Canyon vineyard (77%) with the balance from Hamel Family Ranch (23%). The 2020 growing season began with a wet December followed by a warm, dry spring and summer; despite the historically low rainfall, 68% of the estate's vineyards were dry-farmed, yielding smaller, more concentrated berries and the earliest harvest on record, from August 31 to September 19, 2020, even as nearby wildfires threatened the region. The wine was fermented in a combination of neutral French oak barrels (56%), stainless steel tanks (30%) and concrete eggs (14%), then aged for 12 months in French oak — 72% neutral casks, 19% one-year-old barrels and 9% new — followed by five months in 100% concrete tanks, and was bottled on June 27, 2022. Alcohol is 14.3%, with 1,987 cases produced.