Our second stop for our Sonoita/Elgin trip, the Rune Wines “tasting room”.  Rune is a bit unique as they generally do their tastings outside. They refer to themselves as an off-grid winery.  They have a Quonset hut that at the moment it seems to mostly be an empty shell, or for tastings in a pinch when the weather isn’t cooperative.

The Quonset hut is quite obvious from the highway.  As you pull up it is hard to tell if the building is being repurposed from something else or not, but it seems they are still working on completing it.  Winemaker James Callahan started Rune Wines in 2013, using the culmination of his experience in winemaking in both Arizona and Washington state. I will be honest, we were not sure of what to expect after checking their website’s “About” page while doing research for this trip.

Today we were lucky enough to have the tasting outside because the weather was so beautiful.  The outside tasting is set up with plenty of comfortable seating, sails for shade and a view like none other.  The sitting area is on a slight bluff overlooking the area. It is unlike any tasting room that you will see here locally.

Since they are still working on the tasting room we checked it out and they have some merchandise in there and a few other things. Again a work in progress.  The really cool thing is that since it is a work in progress they put up some brown papers all the way around it and folks ended up writing or putting art on the paper.  I love that people are leaving their mark on an up and coming winery. They are talking about finding a way to preserve some of it when the room gets completed.

Rune Wines offers a Rosé, a white and four reds.  We did try the Rosé, because it seems that everyone is so enjoying those these days, that I keep wanting to try them.  I am sorta leaning toward my theory on white wines, I have given it fifteen years of tastings and I just don’t like them, so stop torturing yourself.  It was OK, but it totally tasted like a typical Rosé.

We moved onto the reds.  They offer a Petit Sirah, Classic Syrah and their Wild Syrah, the latter using natural yeast during the fermentation process.  All of these which were tasty, but getting on the verge of being too warm. Unfortunately you can’t get the full flavors when that happens.  Also the price point is a bit higher than I wanted to pay for wine I could not get a full taste of.

We sat, enjoyed the view and the wines.  We did have to use the porta potty because, well, nature calls!  Good news, very clean and not like your typical event potty, but still it’s a porta potty.  We took some photos, paid for out tasting and headed out.

This is another stop you don’t want to miss, the wines are good and the view is fantastic.   It’s also a unique experience, so swing by before or after Hannah’s Hills since they are essentially next door neighbors.

If you have not already, check out yesterday's feature on Hannah's Hill or check out all of our Sippin' September features here.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Derek & Taunya

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