Great Sauce, Low Price

I love wine.  In fact, I've never had a wine I hated.  I've had a few I didn't love, but none that I hated.  But unless someone else is buying, I stick to the cheap stuff.  I do have one I LOVE that is around $30, but I save that one for special occassions.  And that's as expensive as it gets for me.  Wine is one of life's greatest pleasures.  So much so in fact, that I pretty much only drink water and wine these days.  You know Jesus turned water into wine.  He knew what was up! 

When Groupon advertised a wine tasting special that included 5 one ounce tastes each for two people and an appetizer to share for only $15 at Su Vino Winery, I was all over it.  I had never heard of Su Vino Winery, apparently Scottsdale's first and only winery.  I bought the Groupon back in March but we finally got around to using it on Friday.  Don't ask me why it took us that long to use it.

If you have never been to Su Vino, it's a bit off the beaten path in old town.  It's set back off the street, but they have signs out pointing potential winos in the right direction.  It's a cute little place that is big enough that it doesn't feel like you are drinking wine someone made in a bathtub after playtime with a rubber ducky, but small enough that it still felt intimate.  Tastefully decorated and not incredibly loud like a lot of bars where you can't carry on a conversation without yelling.  There are steel wine holder thingies (hey, I like the finished product, I don't know the technical terminology of Wine Making 101!) right next to the bar that adds to the ambiance.  It didn't have that high level of douchebaggery you expect from a Scottsdale bar either.  Just average, normal folk.  Not a popped collar as far as the eye could see.  I expected there to be more people there on a Friday night, but there were only a few other people in there.  While it's good because you can easily get a seat, I want this place to stay in business so more people need to go!

The bartenders were great.  All were very attentive and thoroughly explained the wine list.  The Lover and I each chose our 5 wines and tried not to overlap too much so we could taste more wine.  The Lover's favorite was the Melange, a lovely red wine.  My favorite was a Summer Rain, a sweet white wine which was surprising because I am a red wine kind of chick.  As I said above, I've never had a wine I hated and this was no exception.  All wines were great! 

Su Vino doesn't have kitchen.  They only have cold appetizers (think breads, cheeses, fruit, that sort of thing) and a few desserts.  For our appetizer, we chose the cheese plate which included 4 types of cheese, nuts, fresh and dried fruit, crackers, and olives.  But we nixed the olives as both of us find olives to be repulsive (but we both love olive oil, weird I know!).  It was an awesome spread!  We went there after dinner so we weren't overly hungry and we didn't try their dessert, but they also have brownies, chocolates, truffles, and stuffed strawberries.  Next time, I am all over the dessert!

If you have never been, you should definitely go.  The regular price for 5 tastes, it's only $10!  Great price!!  And the prices for full glasses ranged from $5 to $8.  Totally un-Scottsdale like!  You can buy bottles to-go for about what you would pay at BevMo too.  I came home with a bottle of Summer Rain for $11.75.

Ok so I know I sound like I work there or was paid to write this glowing review (neither of which is true), but this place was just so awesome and so perfect for those who love good wine, but are cheap, like me.  If you haven't been, go.   Here's the map from their website:

Plenty of free parking around too.  Bonus!!

Seriously, go and go soon!