Su Vino Winery, Scottsdale AZ - Live Love Drink Travel

Continuing onward with our month long saga that is Sippin’ September, today we have Su Vino Winery in Scottsdale Arizona. Su Vino is a small privately owned winery located in Old Town Scottsdale.

Su Vino was the very first winery we visited in Scottsdale years ago. Although we don’t frequent Su Vino as much these days, we have been there many times over the years. The name “Su Vino” comes from the Spanish and Italian words for “your wine”. Their logo is an open hand that represents the skill and dedication of the craftsman, the uniqueness of the individual, and the friendliness of an open palm.

Su Vino Winery is currently located along the Civic Center park. We have met owner Cory Whalin on multiple occasions, but unfortunately he was not behind the bar on our last visit. Most of our information here is from previous conversations with Cory or from research.

I do know that Su Vino started in Grapevine, Texas. A second Su Vino was opened on Main street in Scottsdale sometime before 2012. I could not find the exact year. After 10 years in business the Su Vino Winery in Grapevine closed down in 2017, but the Scottsdale location is still going strong albeit in a new location.

I am not going to lie, sometimes I miss their old location in the art district on Main. The new tasting room on the park does have a lot of the same chic elements, and the feel is the same. The current location gets a lot more foot traffic, and is located near several Old Town Scottsdale iconic stores, bars and restaurants.

Ironically, if you want to see the old tasting room their website is still showing the old pictures, or you can go to the official Old Town Scottsdale website which still has the old location listed.

Currently Su Vino recommends making a reservation, although they will still allow walk-in’s based on availability. Like all places in Arizona right now they are operating at a significantly reduced capacity. You can generally get a deal through Groupon as well, although from experience we know they prefer a reservation when redeeming a Groupon.

I noticed during our visit they are taking the pandemic precautions very seriously. They are putting a lot of detail into cleanliness, and thoroughly sanitizing the bar or table and chairs between patrons.

The wines at Su Vino Winery don’t come from Arizona grapes. I believe the grapes primarily come from California. Recently they started a Guest Wine program and are featuring a few wines from Deep Sky Vineyards.

This time they gave us a sheet and allowed us to pick our wines, but last time we were in Cory was behind the bar and he gave us a pre-selected flight.

For this trip, we sampled eight wines between the two of us. The Nebbiolo was atypical and interesting, and the Zinfandel was decent. The Cab Sauv, the Craftsman and Super Tuscan were not really to my liking. They all were too fruit forward, and the Tuscan was almost like a cherry syrup. The Bella Rosa was really good actually, and we both really enjoyed the Italian style wine. The Bella Rosa reserve however I didn’t really care for, it was too chocolatey and thick for my palate. It was almost like a dessert wine.

Su Vino is a great venue for events. Also they can customize a wine to your tastes. It’s a full participation process, where you get to bottle your wine and place your own personalized label. It’s a great option for gifts, wedding favors, business promotional items, or for any other reason you can think of.

Well, we are getting close to the end of the month now, with only a few days left. Up next is Merkin Vineyards, or in the meantime check out yesterday’s article on Down Time Wines, or the rest of our Sippin’ September features here.

Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.

— Derek