Fair enough, although there are very good small producers in Sonoma AVA who sell most for between $18-30 at winery retail, so it’s still quite steep. Where does most of the wine get sold at ‘street’ prices?
That’s certainly fari enough… and they are generally telling us that they are already converts! Sounds like an accessible fruit-end of the market well-made set of wines. Although I’m waiting for a review not from the converted first!
First time post long time lurker!!! I must give it up to Janae and Frane they are the salt of the Earth. They make awesome wines, are so hospitable, and are doing killer job making many wines from all over the place. When you walk into their tasting room you feel like family. I work in a tasting room in Sonoma County and I fell that they have a great vibe. It’s family you can find their children playing outside. If you inquire about barrel tasting but don’t happen to be there in March you might just be taken 20ft to the winery to taste out of the limousines. The prices offered on these wines are STUPID. The Merlot, famous vineyard the venerable Davis Bynum use to produce great Merlot form there after his retirement Sunce carried the flame. In a sea of boring innocuous safe wines Frane is not afraid to be different. He lets the site express its self. There is no common thread through all of their wines. This show site transparency, what other producer makes this may wines from so many counties at alc. ranging from low 13% to high 15%'s? If you can make it there for barrell tasting their savings are awesome and last year drinking the wine playing boche ball and eating chicken gumbo was one of the best barrell tasting experience. All of these wines are awesome and yes I have tried all of them because they will pour all of them for you at the tasting room. I know it is hard for you skeptics to understand they are very generous people not to mention I have been there TOO many times. But if you ever get the chance try the Zoro’s Estate pinot (Olivet Lane is the Filet Mignon for Pinot Noir, ex. Olivet lane vineyard, Dehlinger, and Kistler to the North) and the Les Trios Amie Super Tuscan (and I usually hate Cali-Ital with the exception of said wine and Seghesio’s Venom). For the haters I am in not way invled with the winery or family. Sunce keep on keepin on, in a sea of Sh*t wineries you stay afloat. Cheers
And for the people who ask questions like you buy fruit form AVA which are not Sonoma or Napa Counties you must be making plonk. The grapes planted in those counties were planted for wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties for their different attributes. Take Solano County they supplied much of Sebastini’s fruit for years. Lake County fruit is amazing try the Cabs and SB not to mention the Zins and Syrah. Odds are that your big Napa/Sonoma producer is using this fruit after all only 85% of fruit need be from county labeled on the bottle and who says it is not more? We like to bend the rules in the wine biz. Don’t buy into the better known AVA BS its juts marketing, to the naysayers I would ask have you ever had a Cabot Syrah (Humbolt Co.), a Lavender Ridge Viognier (Calaveras County), Gruet Sparkling wine (New Mexico)? Well if not do not hate expand you Napa/Sonoma Cab/Chard palate. Everything is relative. When I was in Burgundy last year and told several people I was from the USA and I worked for a winery they had not clue that we even made wine, sorry to burst any bubbles, but after the Judgment of '76 the French didn’t rush to buy our wines.
I am going to be in trouble-but can’t pass this deal up-in for one!!
Well, my New Year’s resolution doesn’t start till Saturday (it’s about $ management, not drinking. That would be silly.) In for one!
I am curious about the reference to Fountain Grove on the Zinfandel. Before Prohibition, Fountain Grove was a famous winery in what’s now Santa Rosa (was North of town against the hills on the East side of the Santa Rosa plain. They were known for both Zinfandel and Cabernet. I think it was started as some sort of socialist utopian scheme, and the guy who started it was a friend of Luther Burbank, who lived in Santa Rosa.
When you drive North from Santa Rosa on US 101, there is a round barn with Fountain Grove painted on it on the right side of the road. It’s something of a local landmark.
Is there some connection with Fountain Grove? Their vineyards are mostly gone, IIRC.
Dmil and others,
Interesting that you mention the Gruet Sparkling Wine from New Mexico (Albuquerque…try spelling that when you’re not from there!). I just tried that last week and fell out of my chair when I learned where it was made/sourced. Not an amazing Sparkler but certainly good with the astounding part being its source! Anyway, you’re correct in that it certainly opened my mind a bit.
I bought this back in September where there was a lively discussion, see link above. Although I didn’t keep notes (now I see why I should!) I do remember I enjoyed the wines and have none left.
The wines in that offering were:
2007 Russian River Valley Petite Syrah
2007 Barbera, St. Olof’s Vineyard, Clear Lake
2008 Bastoni Zinfandel
And I am definitely in for one.
I ordered their 2008 Zinfandel from WTSO and it was TERRIBLE! I am not sure if the wine was cooked but tasted like vinegar…all four bottles were bad.
No, I’m a wine club member of Sunce in Arizona. I received an email from them regarding their Woot offering. I’ve never purchased anything off of Woot before, which explains my first post. I’m just a person that enjoys their wines, and usually pay way more than this for their goods. It’s a great deal. I would have bought a few cases at this price if I could have, but was limited to one.
Cheers!
Actually, that’s not at all what I said. I’m a huge fan of wines from outside the Napa-noma bubble. I was just surprised by the retail pricing that had been mentioned. It seemed on the high end, but an answer has been provided explaining what other costs go into Sunce’s wine.
It seems kind of cShilly around here today??
Ah, makes more sense. So the list prices are essentially tasting room prices, and club members have access to most (all?) wines at significant discounts.
Sorry, don’t mean to harp on pricing and sourcing, but I saw the whole “$450 in wine for $130” and was trying to sort out where the number came from. Really Sunce is selling to most of their customers for less than that, so the market price is lower than the tasting room list price.
My wife and I were members of their club and love their wines. Just an excellent small producer of really wonderful wines… you won’t be disappointed.
Sunce’s wines age very well, too. We still have some Cabs and Syrahs from a few years back that are drinking fantastically now.
Good stuff!
Seriously, not being directly related to the winery is probably a good thing for Sunce. Your confrontational attitude would not represent the winery in a positive light.
Most of us haven’t tried Sunce’s wines. So we’re asking questions. I basically left a tap-in by suggesting Sunce can list at a high price point even without the marketing clout of Napa/Sonoma on most of their wines. Instead, the response is to insinuate anyone who won’t auto-buy on faith is a hater.
You said “We like to bend the rules in the wine biz.” so clearly you are in the wine biz. Can you tell us what your role is, including your relationship to Suncé (I know you work in a tasting room)?
Don’t get me (or others) wrong - I’m not accusing anyone of anything. But we have endured some real shenanigans here - people posing as “just another buyer” when they were clearly not just that.
There’s nothing wrong with inviting wine club members to post, and nothing wrong with their posting. But some kind of introduction would certainly set our minds at ease:
“Hi, I’m new to Woot, but I’ve read the forums a few times. I enjoy a glass or two with dinner, and I’ve been a member of Suncé’s wine club for three years.”
or
“Hello, I’m the sales director for Screaming Monkey Vineyards, and we sell Malbec grapes to Suncé.”
…or whatever.
Also, if you really do enjoy the wines and want to tout them, it will take something more than “these wines are great. They never disappoint!” In order for a recommendation to be meaningful, we need some context. What is your wine-tasting experience? What varietals do you like? How does a particular wine compare to other (perhaps better-known) wines?
Some particulars about the wines, are of course, also helpful.
I hope I’m not scaring anyone off - that’s not my intention. Please help us to make an informed decision. You’ve tasted these wines; many of us have not.
Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
Who cares what a bunch of stuffy French men think? Seriously. France has a ton of wine, and given the pricing of most US wines, they definitely wouldn’t compete very well after all the import costs are tacked on. I wouldn’t expect US wine to have much exposure given they can get the same quality cheaper domestically.
There are plenty of folks in the US who haven’t heard of anything other than Napa and are too chauvinistic to accept France or any other non-Napa region produces excellent wines. It’s not a French thing; it’s a snob thing.
Can we get past the tension between the regular Wooters and the Sunce newcomers?
To the Sunce fans - you will help to sell this wine by providing good tasting notes, not by pitching how nice the winemakers are. This a big purchase for someone who’s never heard of the winery! Can you tell us about bouquet, acidity, tannins, typical drinking windows?
Also, one comment earlier used the words “truly jammy” - that’s more frequently an epithet here than a compliment! I’d appreciate more clarification on that.
I am not related, and not a frequent ‘poster.’ Very happy with last woot purchase from Sunce. This will need to sit in a case for a while; would like POV on if okay with these wines.