The Case for an Unhurried Glass of Wine

Not every visit to wine country needs an itinerary. Sometimes the best plan is a glass of something good, a comfortable chair and nowhere particularly urgent to be.

You don’t always need the whole tasting.

We love a proper wine tasting. Sitting down, pouring through a lineup
and discovering how one vineyard or vintage differs from another is
one of the best ways to get to know what we make.

It just isn’t the only way.

Sometimes you already know what you want. Sometimes the afternoon is
beautiful and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc sounds better than another
appointment. Sometimes somebody in the car says, “Should we stop for
a glass?” and everybody immediately agrees.

Those visits count, too.

A winery can be somewhere you visit. We would rather it also become
somewhere you come back to.

There is a sweet spot in the afternoon.

Around four o’clock, Kenwood starts to change a little.

The sun drops lower over Sonoma Valley. The olive grove gets softer
around the edges. The pace inside the tasting room eases. People who
arrived with an itinerary start looking considerably less interested
in checking the time.

We call that stretch of the day
Golden Hour.

Thursday through Sunday from 3 to 5 pm, we feature select glasses
starting at $10. But Golden Hour isn’t when wine by the glass suddenly
becomes available at Hamilton. You can order a glass or bottle during
our regular tasting room hours, too.

Golden Hour is simply our little encouragement to take advantage of a
particularly nice part of the day.