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W i n e s & V i n e s n O V e M B e R 2 0 1 4 85 Family business takes shape John could manage production, but as the family's plans had grown to include an estate winery, they knew they needed some- one to help run sales and day-to-day man- agement of the business. That's when the Hamels' oldest son, George F. Hamel III, received an invitation to attend the Telluride Wine Festival, the first public tasting where the family would be pouring their wines. George Hamel III, a graduate of Bard College who was working in banking in New York at the time, says he figured he'd come out to the event in Colorado to enjoy some wine and support the family. Instead, he received a pitch about helping to build an estate, and he bought into the idea. Both Hamel sons agree that each has different yet complementary skills. The goal, however, is not just to have fun working together as a family but produce world-class wines at a premier winery. And while it may be a family effort, the Hamels do have some serious industry experience helping them with their effort. Phil Coturri is the vineyard manager, and Martha McClellan is the winemaking consultant. "Instead of just doing a family project and having fun together, our aspirations became: We can be a world-class family business. And let's not just say this is the best we can do with these resources, let's do what it takes to be world-class," says the elder George Hamel. If the goal is world-class prestige, the Hamels did well in choosing a Sonoma Valley estate with some heritage. The win- ery sits on land that was planted with wine grapes by the Civil War general Joseph Hooker and then later owned by George and Phoebe Hearst in the late 1800s. The property eventually came to be owned by the Parducci family, which sold it to the Hamels. The objective during the design phase was to incorporate the estate's natural beauty into the building while still pro- viding an exceptional experience for the visitor. Hamel admits he first had visions of a French chateau, but he credits archi- tects Doug Thornley and Amber Evans for creating something that is more of a natural fit for the property and the fam- ily's hospitality goals. "Instead of building what we told him to build, he listened to what we said we wanted and created all of those things," says George Hamel. "It was a great experience." Thornley, who happened to be touring the winery with a client when Wines & Vines visited, says he wanted the building to enhance "the perfect Sonoma setting" by featuring expansive views and seam- lessly incorporating outside space. "One of the aspects was really to have the building reflect the land, like really make this project feel like it's in Sonoma and nowhere else," he says. "The rammed earth walls capture that in the sense it's the actual dirt from the site that gives it its color and a sense of permanence. It's not like it's a trendy solution, it's really a solution that will hold up over time." One memorable moment for Thornley and the Hamels was when the architect brought a scale model of his proposed winery to the building site. "One of my favorite moments was throwing a model on top of an ATV and coming up here and starting to understand how the sun was going to react, and the model actu- ally emulated how shade and shadow was going to work, and it was really helpful for everyone to understand what we were thinking for our clients," Thornley says. The rammed earth walls are comple- mented with solar panels, a living roof and recycled wood. While it's a relatively large structure, the winery blends into the hillsides surrounding it and is invisible from the nearby and busy Highway 12. That's part of the Hamels' strategy. "The whole idea is when you actually turn into the tasting room, that's the big ah-ha moment that you see these beautiful, spec- tacular views of Sonoma Valley, and until then things are more guarded," says George Hamel III. The landscaping archi- tect on the project was Jonathan Plant & Associates, which also worked on Colgin Winery and Trinchero Napa Valley. Tastings are booked by appointment, and the winery has about 5,000 square feet of hospitality space to offer a variety of options for guests ranging from tables on the patio to a private room in the cave. "We have a lot of different experiences depending on what our guests want from their time and when they come back, which we hope would be time and time again," George Hamel III says. "It's not the same exact experience they have six times, but we could create six different experi- ences that are all different, so it just keeps them wanting to come back for more." The winery is permitted to hold 20 spe- cial events per year and has a full catering kitchen and garden. The main hospitality area and staff offices are housed in central building located in front of the crush pad, fermentation cellar and cave entrances. Trucks and tractors delivering fruit access the crush pad via a horseshoe-shaped driveway that runs between the two main buildings. Construction began in 2012, and the Hamels will are processing grapes for the first time at the winery this year. Wright Contracting Inc. of Santa Rosa, Calif., acted as the general contractor, and Cotati, Calif.-based Westside Mechanical Inc. handled winery refrigeration, plumb- ing and drains. NV CALIFORNIA Pacific Ocean Hamel Family Wines Mendocino San Francisco Napa OR Sonoma c a l i f o R n i a Concrete and stainless tanks as well as barrels are used for red wine primary fermentations. bruce damonTe G R A P E G R O W I N G W I N E M A K I N G