nosnevets wrote:As far as using Black Flag as a Marketing tool, I am so glad they didn't have digital cameras and the eternal internet in the 70's.
California Uber alles! Oh wait that's Sid.

Jello!

worldofjohnboy wrote:I was sort of in the same boat... I have only opened a few of the Wellington mixed set and both my 32 bottle cooler and my 9 bottle rack are over-full. Seeing as how my wife still has about 34 days before our baby girl is due, I can't drink wine by myself without getting sloppy...

I do, however, have a nice storage room in my finished basement. There is no heating or cooling in the room, and it stays about the same temp most of the year even with the big climate changes. I think I am just going to keep these in the shipping box and put the box in that room.

It has always been my experience if you plan on opening the wine a little earlier than the recommended drinking window, I always just decant it a bit longer. My cellar is a bit young currently, I think the oldest bottle I have is the 2002 Sunce Cab Sauv, a bottle of the 2003 Corison Cab, and the rest are 2005 and newer. Also, I think if you store these at a higher temp, they age in the bottle a little faster.

Good point you have there with the temperature during the aging process. Unfortunately my storage is a crawl space - which in CO means that it can be a bit inconsistent year round. How about at an average room temperature? Do you know how much faster a wine might age compared with a cooled cellar? Or does it vary with the grape/year/style? I agree with decanting - my next purchase at the store will definitely be an aerator to help with the process.

P.s. - best of wishes for the baby! (and the 3rd trimester wife who can't drink!)

epistemologonhere wrote:That's a great point. And I think you could be right for someone who finds a particular wine unbalanced. Yet, how does your palate compare to others? Can you tell us?
I would say though that c. a different food really will change the acid / other profile of a drink! Try lemon, meat, olives, carrot and chocolate cake before the same wine!

And so, out of balance can be subjective. I saw this Pinotfile article posted recently:
Balance in Wine: A Personal Aesthetic.

Very good point. I have not had a chance to read the article you posted, but to my palate, the wines did not taste out of balance at all when enjoying with rich foods (strong cheese, grass-fed steak, etc - ...not lemon! ). I would also say that I prefer more acidic, food-friendly, "old-world" style wines than your average American (Chianti / Sangio are my usual daily drinkers and I'm in the Wellington wine club). The wines did taste out of balance on their own... BUT it sounds like the wine maker's intent was to make food-friendly wines, and it sounds like others really liked them on their own, so maybe I need to "re-calibrate" where I think my palate resides!

nosnevets wrote:
California Uber alles! Oh wait that's Sid.

-1

If I recall correctly my DW and I really enjoyed the reds from Sunce', but we like the European style and generally have our wine with dinner.

jhkey wrote:Very good point. I have not had a chance to read the article you posted, but to my palate, the wines did not taste out of balance at all when enjoying with rich foods (strong cheese, grass-fed steak, etc - ...not lemon! ). I would also say that I prefer more acidic, food-friendly, "old-world" style wines than your average American (Chianti / Sangio are my usual daily drinkers and I'm in the Wellington wine club). The wines did taste out of balance on their own... BUT it sounds like the wine maker's intent was to make food-friendly wines, and it sounds like others really liked them on their own, so maybe I need to "re-calibrate" where I think my palate resides!

Was using my wife's avatar---now have my own:

My goal in making wine and I probably can to an extend speak about the goal of other wine makers is to craft wines that are balanced, food friendly can be enjoyed on their own; now, and for many years in the future. However, there is no computer program to direct the process towards this goal. Nature is our playground and it is unpredictable. This engenders since of mistique and discovery and that is what I love about wine as a wine maker and wine drinker. Frane

princesskristin wrote:Good point you have there with the temperature during the aging process. Unfortunately my storage is a crawl space - which in CO means that it can be a bit inconsistent year round. How about at an average room temperature? Do you know how much faster a wine might age compared with a cooled cellar? Or does it vary with the grape/year/style? I agree with decanting - my next purchase at the store will definitely be an aerator to help with the process.

P.s. - best of wishes for the baby! (and the 3rd trimester wife who can't drink!)

Many of your questions are a little over my head... I would *think* that Cabs require more aging and Sangios and Merlots require less time in the bottle, but I am just spitballing there. I have found that if you don't have any aerators or decanters around, you can just pop the cork and let the bottle breathe that way before you drink it. I have a Vinturi but only use it if I am doing a quick taste after I pop the cork on a bottle. I always try to decant my reds for ~30 minutes.

Temp-wise, I have a dual-zone cooler... my whites are set to 47 and my reds at 52 degrees. The other wines that I will be drinking shortly are in my rack and temp in the house runs from 65 in winter to 72 in summer. It's not a good idea to let temperatures fluctuate too much as I have read it can reak havoc on the wine's structure.

The wife can drink wine in her 3rd trimester, but she doesn't have a taste for it, nor can she eat red meat or chicken, so food pairing is nearly impossible as well. I guess all those hormones don't do well for her tastebuds/stomach.

nosnevets wrote:As far as using Black Flag as a Marketing tool, I am so glad they didn't have digital cameras and the eternal internet in the 70's.
California Uber alles! Oh wait that's Sid.

Not Sid - Jello...

InFrom wrote:OK, who is this really? Very familiar prose style, hmmm...

Are you thinking what I think you're thinking? a favored specter?

I currently have open a Sunce 2006 Zin. And LOVE it. Not too fruit forward, not too tanic. just yummy! I normally drink red, but enjoyed the Voineer (I know its not spelled right, I'm too lazy to go look at the label) and enjoyed the dry, crisp taste of it.

I am on the fence, I would LOVE to try the other varieties.... but don't know if hubby/kids will disown me!!!! Ha Ha!!! Will have to think about it..... I don't need a sugar daddy, I need a wine daddy!!!! Ha, HA!!!

I bought the last Sunce Woot offering but so far have only opened one bottle - the '06 Zin went quite well with some lamb chops that night. Not the best Zin I've ever had, and like others have said it was not as good after the food was gone, but it wasn't a 2 buck chuck either. The rest are laying down in the "wine cellar" (meaning, the large walk-in closet) for now though we do need to get the Viognier dealt with soon as we don't like to sit on the whites for too long.

I'm tempted to give this woot a go as well but we've so much on hand right now with no space for much more....so I'm going to resist, but if I had the space I'd give it a go.

There is another point to think about here. That is that there is very little "down-side" to making this purchase, especially if you are relatively new to the world of better wines, as I am, and you are wanting to familiarize yourselves with different styles of wine making. This offering has many wooters explaining why they all love, like, so-so, dislike, or hate a given type. This is an excellent opportunity for defining personal taste, along with lots of definite unfiltered opinions. The winery has a good reputation and the owners are honorable. They produce a well crafted product and stand behind it. (I can personally recount the case where I received a couple of bad bottles in my purchase of the last Sunce offering and they were replaced by Janae without hassle.) With a high p/q relationship, there is very little "down-side" in the equation.

mommadeb1 wrote:enjoyed the Voineer (I know its not spelled right, I'm too lazy to go look at the label)

Vee ohn yay. :-)

I bought the last Sunce offering and with the exception of the Viognier (which I found to be on the bitter side...more typical of an inexpensive French style Viognier) everything I've tried thus far has been pretty decent. Most in the daily drinker category, but good nonetheless. The overall style seems to be heavier/bolder, but I personally prefer that style.

I have to say that this is a really good deal on a great selection of Sunce wines. The Zemlja's blend is very unique Barbera/Nebbiolo blend the like of which I have not encountered, the 05 Meritage is one of the last vintages to include the Hedin Merlot and Cab (that are no more ), The Rodella Pinot was terrific last time I tried it (about year ago). I don't include specific tasting details as these are some of the wines in my cellar which I open only on special occasions. I have had them all and have very small quantity left so I am Most Definitely placing an order!

I'm soo excited!!!! I got my first quality post!!!!! yea me!!!!

nosnevets wrote:California Uber alles! Oh wait that's Sid.

Oh, wait, that's Jello Biafra. Unsuccessful write-in candidate for San Francisco mayor.

Gatzby wrote:Heh, especially true since the same Jerry Brown is back/will be back in the governor's office.

Who now holds the record for youngest and oldest California Governor. One that will be difficult to beat with term limits.

Good Evening Wooters,

My spouse will be coming back soon---he had some wine making and dad duties to attend to.

It's 4:30 PSD and I just sent and e-blast for the first time to my e-list about this offer. I felt that it wasn't fair to not invite them in on this great deal. I have instructed them to announce themselves first as Sunce customers or members or e-list people if they decide to brave the boards.

I want to thank you for buying our wines---we appreciate it very much.

janae

becausehelovesus wrote:Good Evening Wooters,

My spouse will be coming back soon---he had some wine making and dad duties to attend to.

It's 4:30 PSD and I just sent and e-blast for the first time to my e-list about this offer. I felt that it wasn't fair to not invite them in on this great deal. I have instructed them to announce themselves first as Sunce customers or members or e-list people if they decide to brave the boards.

I want to thank you for buying our wines---we appreciate it very much.

janae

Welcome back

ahueston wrote:No tastings notes but i liked all of the wine i got from them from the december woot. sorry i could not be more useful but they were good. I even liked the whites.

I agree. I got the last offer in December and have tried most of those by now. I was particularly impressed by their merlot (not being myself normally a merlot drinker), it is full body, complex, very tasty. I also enjoyed very much the malbec, cab and zin included in that package. Even the whites were pretty good. I am definetely in for this one and share the opinion of several others here as to how impressively prolific the folks at Sunce seem to be.

The December Sunce mixed case was my first woot. The only bottles enjoyed from it were the two Viognier, as we had plenty of their reds prior to receiving the case. I'm in for 1 again for the different variety of wines in this offering. Look forward to receiving it!

emmabean2000 wrote:Welcome back

Thank you. I wanted to correct the grammatical error in my eblast: "We would've been remiss had we not invited our Sunce customers to get in on this deal" not amiss. The kinda stuff that keeps me up at night.

Thank you for your support!

I'm new to Woot, but have been a member of Sunce's wine club for about 4 years. I have enjoyed most of their wines, especially the blends. I've had both the Meritage and the Merlot in this offer, and both were excellent. These are great prices, so I joined Woot and bought a case.

becausehelovesus wrote:

It's 4:30 PSD and I just sent and e-blast for the first time to my e-list about this offer. I felt that it wasn't fair to not invite them in on this great deal. I have instructed them to announce themselves first as Sunce customers or members or e-list people if they decide to brave the boards.

I want to thank you for buying our wines---we appreciate it very much.

janae

As far as I am concerned that is perfectly fine. There's no problem with you alerting your regular customers of the deal available here. Similarly, comments made by your club members can aid the community. When we know where the comments are coming from and the basis that aids the understanding.

And welcome back. Past history aside, Janae I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

noslensj wrote:As far as I am concerned that is perfectly fine. There's no problem with you alerting your regular customers of the deal available here. Similarly, comments made by your club members can aid the community. When we know where the comments are coming from and the basis that aids the understanding.

And welcome back. Past history aside, Janae I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Thank you, me too!

Held out as long as I could on this one. Several years ago, a Sunce zin was the bottle that made me fall in love with zin! Can't wait to try the rest of the varietals.

As I posted earlier, I have purchased the last two offers and even though I am loaded with wine, I am in for one.

Thanks for coming back to woot.

Mrpopcorn wrote:As I posted earlier, I have purchased the last two offers and even though I am loaded with wine, I am in for one.

Thanks for coming back to woot.

Yea---thank you. I will post some of my notes on these wines----writing some last minute thoughts now

this is one of our favorite wineries in the sonoma region. seriously - this is a great deal.

becausehelovesus wrote:Yea---thank you. I will post some of my notes on these wines----writing some last minute thoughts now

I'd also like to say that I'm glad you're back - I still don't have the space for a mixed case, but hopefully next time!

princesskristin wrote:I have been waiting for another 12 pack since the last Wellington offer (which I enjoyed the majority of). However, after reading many of the posts from the last woot offer (and yes - I did my best to ignore the bickering) and the comments on this one I must say that I am going to sit this one out. My main reason: recommended cellaring time. After it was recommended for a 2-4 year (if I remember correctly) wait, I must say my current "cellar" simply does not have the space. If anyone has a comment to the contrary please do post it.

....

For what it's worth: I have been a Sunce wine club member for several years and visited the winery more than once - to the detriment of my bank account. Maybe these wines would benefit from cellaring, but I have never managed to keep them around that long. Don't let the cellaring suggestions deter you.

Oh...and per the request, here's my obligatory note that I caught the e-blast at the last hour and rushed to join in.

I just built an excessively large wine rack and I have plenty of room to fill. In for one.

Hi Wooters,

Here I’ve listed the wines in order of my preference and I’ve added some of new notes:

2- 2005 Meritage Sonoma County Franicevic Reserve $48 (107 cases remaining before Woot)
42% Hedin’s now extinct RRV Merlot from Westside Rd, 36% Hedin RRV Cab Sauv—(both pulled out to plant Pinot Noir) and 22% Mazzera’s Dry Creek Vly Cab
This is one of the most age-worthy of Sunces wines. Can easily be cellared for another 5 years. 13.9% ABV (with a margin of error of 1%--but it’s not over 14—as is the case with rest of the wines in this offer) This is a good sipper on its own and still has a lot of dark blackberry fruit and it’s beginning to boast that nice creamy finish you can get on a good Cab or Bordeaux.

2- 2007 Zemlja's Blend Lake County(50/50 Barbera, Nebbiolo ~Barbersco-style Blend) $40 (150 cases)
This is the one that touches places on the palate that haven’t been touched----I know I sound touched when I say that. If the Nebbiolo ever makes it out of the vineyard (since it’s prone to shatter and likes a high altitude) it can have the perfect acid, tannin ph balance—statistically speaking. The Barbera complements the Nebbiolo with color and spice. The aftertaste of lively, zingy mixed berries lingers for a long time. This is one of those wines for the hard to please Pinot Noir types. I also recommend our Nebbiolo on its own.

2- 2006 Petite Sirah, El Dorado County (07 RRV on Woot 1st time) $30 (92 cases)
This is starting to smooth out and tastes like a Petite, not like a Zin---like some of them do. It has a very varietal grapiness to it with the characteristic new-car nose---but in a good way. 13.9% ABV

2- 2008 Sangiovese, Alexander Valley, Romo Vyd, $28 (80 cases)
This is almost tied for 3rd place with the Petite. It has a very nice alfalfa hay quality mixed with cranberries. Very nice with a good Italian dinner. 13.9% ABV

2- 2005 Merlot, Sonoma Valley Truman King's Vyd, $35 (96 cases) It's developed very well and is more of a well-aged Bordeaux-style wine that is close to its peek but has retained enough of a nice delicate framework of fruit to perhaps pique your interest—though it may be a bit restrained. A very good wine to sip now. I have to run and get a bottle but I think the label reads 13.6% ABV---less than I put in my previous notes---sorry--- I do copy and paste a lot.



2- 2005 Pinot Noir, Rodella Vyd, RRV $46 (109 cases)- I prefer our 2005 Estate Zora’s Vyd over this one but it is full flavored and has some traditional Pinot Noir notes, like fennel and allspice but it has more of a toasted cherry quality than a ruby-red grapefruit or cola flavors and it also has some eucalyptus aromas. ABV 13.9

becausehelovesus wrote:Hi Wooters,

Here I’ve listed the wines in order of my preference and I’ve added some of new notes:

-- Awesome tasting notes here --

Those were terrific - thank you for sharing them. I really, really can't buy tonight, so I hope you guys come back again. How about... July? My stock should be depleted by then.

michaepf wrote:Those were terrific - thank you for sharing them. I really, really can't buy tonight, so I hope you guys come back again. How about... July? My stock should be depleted by then.

July sounds good. BTW---I'm having the 2005 Rodella Vyd right now and I think I may have been a little hard on it---I am biased toward our own fruit. I think I can even get a cherry cola on it---and the finish is a nice caramel like coated one.

franefranicevic wrote:July sounds good. BTW---I'm having the 2005 Rodella Vyd right now and I think I may have been a little hard on it---I am biased toward our own fruit. I think I can even get a cherry cola on it---and the finish is a nice caramel like coated one.

Ahhh shoot...I meant to say: 2- 2005 Merlot, Sonoma Valley Truman King's Vyd, $35 (96 cases) It's developed very well and is more of a well-aged Bordeaux-style wine that is close to its peAk but has retained enough of a nice delicate framework of fruit to perhaps pique your interest—though it may be a bit restrained. A very good wine to sip now. I have to run and get a bottle but I think the label reads 13.6% ABV---less than I put in my previous notes---sorry--- I do copy and paste a lot.

epistemologonhere wrote: I saw this Pinotfile article posted recently:
Balance in Wine: A Personal Aesthetic.

Thanks for the link to this article. I found it very intriguing.

Why is it that we can purchase 3 cases on this woot but are so often limited to just a case or less on other boots? I can't swing multiple cases on this without trying them but there have been several in the past I happily would've purchased two or three cases of my favorite...

In any case I'm in for one. Popcorn wasnt needed as much as last time and frankly I'm glad. Great winery participation, good wine, obvious following of loyal customers. Can't go wrong.

Cheers