History
We’re a family run boutique winery operating in Sonoma Country since 1989, first as a 38-acre vineyard just outside of Sebastopol. At this vineyard, the color of the night sky often produces a blue hue as the sun sets behind the peaks of California’s coastal range, giving us our name Sapphire Hill.
Since 2001, Sapphire Hill has operated as a winery and tasting room in Healdsburg, a town at the meeting point of three legendary grape growing areas: Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley, and the Russian River Valley. Here the winery grew a reputation for serving award winning Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel using grapes from those valleys.
Today, we continue to be a family run winery focused on producing delicious wines for our loyal wine club members, and delivering memorable hospitality experiences for new visitors and familiar faces at our Healdsburg tasting room.
Our People
Hallie and Tony Gamboa
We believe life should be measured by the amount of time spent enjoying it, especially when in the company of family and friends.
As a couple, we find a lot of joy in thinking of fun ways to host a good time for our friends and family in pursuit of that belief, whether it’s in our home, on a river bank, or at a tailgate cookout.
In 2015 we joined the wine club at Sapphire Hill because of how much this winery, like us, cared about hosting and having fun with their guests and because of the incredible Sonoma County wines they introduced us to.
Over the years we had a blast learning about wine at pick-up parties, blend your own bottle workshops, food and wine pairings, and other events hosted by the former winery owners Lisa and Chris Mulcahy, who also became great friends along the way.
When it came time for Chris and Lisa to retire, we had long been envious of their line of work and decided we had to try to keep the good times going by offering to purchase Sapphire Hill, Fortunately for us, this offer was met with enthusiasm from the Mulcahys and the rest of the Sapphire Hill team!
As we transitioned ownership we learned a lot about the wine business from the Mulcahys, but they placed a heavy emphasis on teaching us that no matter how great your wine is, people will never forget how you make them feel and that’s what makes a repeat guest.
When you visit our tasting room, we want you to enjoy your time with us as much as you enjoy our wines, and leave feeling appreciated and cared for. When you open a bottle of our wine you’ve taken home with you, we hope you’re inspired to impart similar feelings with whoever you’re sharing our wine with.
The Sapphire Hill Team
Lisa and Chris Mulcahy had the incredible opportunity to live out their wine country dreams when they purchased Sapphire Hill in 2011. Over the course of the next decade, their business savvy, creativity, hard work, and commitment to only producing high quality wines they were proud to serve to their friends and family transformed the business into a thriving operation with a loyal and enthusiastic wine club following.
As they ease into retirement, the Mulcahy’s continue to share their experience and methods for success with Hallie and Tony as formal advisors and continue to spend time in the tasting room pouring, cooking, and entertaining guests.
Tami Collins, winemaker, is an industry veteran with an extensive wine making background and has lent her expertise to Sapphire Hill since 2010. Tami has a B.S. degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and she has completed the coursework at the University of California, Davis in Wine Chemistry, Winegrape Production, and Sensory Evaluation.
JoAnne Walker, retail sales manager, is another long-time industry veteran with extensive training and knowledge from Windsor Vineyards, Ramazzotti Vineyards, and others. JoAnn has an encyclopedic knowledge of both Sapphire Hill’s wines and our wine club member’s individual preferences, allowing her to connect our customers with their favorite wines.
Mary Ptak, hospitality, is an expert in making folks feel comfortable and welcomed in our tasting room. When she’s not pouring wine and generating smiles, Mary stays active attending events throughout Sonoma County and pet sitting for an ever growing list of discerning pet parents.
Winemaking
We believe we owe our success to the fruit and have a responsibility to treat our grapes gently while taking any steps necessary to ensure they are transformed into wines that are the finest expression of the fruit possible, regardless of cost, time, and effort involved.
Our grapes are hand harvested, hand sorted (twice), and only entrusted in the hands of our highly experienced winemaker who has access to modern facilities and all the requisite tools of the trade at her disposal.
Once our wines are ready to rest in the barrel, we draw from over 20 years of experience working with various cooperages to select the barrels best suited to compliment our wines based on varietal, vineyard location, and desired flavor profile.
As an independent winery we’re fortunate to sell most of our wines directly to our wine club members, so we’re not held hostage to distributor demands and their contractual release dates. We simply release our wines once we’re proud to share them with our club members.
The independent nature of our business also grants us flexibility to make decisions about the wines we make at all stages of production. Some of our best selling wines were the result of “playing jazz” in the barrel room or around the blending table.
All our wines have a story to tell, and we hope to share them with you when you visit our tasting room.