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Our Story

After graduating from the University of California at Davis in 1987, Bill Hunter spent time working at Rombauer Winery in St. Helena and Bonny Doon Winery in Santa Cruz. In 1989 he began making wine for Chauffe-Eau Cellars in Geyserville. After getting some experience, he wanted to be able to express his own style. So in 1994, he began making his own wine on the side. He made two barrels of Dutton Chardonnay from the original shop block and a barrel of Carneros Pinot Noir. Unfortunately, someone had already registered the brand 'Hunter', so he opted to use the brand name 'Chasseur', French for Hunter. His wines sold out locally almost overnight due to their character, personality and overall quality. Each year thereafter, Bill would scour Sonoma for fruit that met his demanding criteria for quality. This allowed for slow growth that reached 2,500 cases in the 2001 harvest. Seeing the potential of west Sonoma County, his dream was to work with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and own a winery in this area where he would work for himself, and focus solely on making small lots of top quality wine. In February 2002, Bill met Alex P. Bartholomaus, Managing Director of Billington Imports. Alex was so struck by the quality of Bill’s '99 Lorenzo Chardonnay and '99 Sylvia’s Pinot Noir, that Alex offered for the Bartholomaus Family (Alfredo S. Bartholomaus, owner of Billington Imports, and Alex) to provide the necessary investment in order to set Bill up in his own facility. Alex also offered the services of Billington Imports to handle the marketing of these wines outside of the state of California. The thought of being able to focus on winemaking and having a good strategic marketing partner made a lot of sense, so Bill accepted Alex’s offer and the Bartholomaus family became minority partners in Hunter Wine Cellars. This allowed Bill to expand and go on his own moving his operation in time for the 2002 harvest.