Exploring Life & Business with Michael And Debby of Sunland Vintage Winery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael And Debby.

Hi Michael and Debby, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Our story starts nearly 100 years ago with my grandfather, who went from Bootlegger during Prohibition to honest-to-goodness Winery in Los Angeles named Sunland Vintage, located a few miles from where San Antonio Winery is today. Although he closed the business in 1948, there were some remaining relics of the business that my parents retained. Quite by accident, the idea of reimagining Sunland Vintage Winery came to me in late 2009. So, combining my grandfather’s Legacy with the Tradition of making “Old World” style wines with the Passion that I was somehow gifted, we went to work creating this new business. The labels on our bottles are replicas of my grandfather’s original labels, so they retain that old, vintage look. We bottled our first wines in 2010, opened our Tasting Room in 2013, expanded the Tasting Room in 2016, and now have over 30 different wines in our portfolio.
We started this business as a “fun-to-do” business when we retired from our “day jobs”, hoping it could keep us busy, involved, and provide a little supplement to our retirement income. However, the day we opened our Tasting Room we saw immediate success in sales. Not HUGE success, but enough to realize continued growth of our business. As we were still working in the beginning, we were able to reinvest into the business…thus the portfolio of over 30 wines today.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The continued growth of our business also included growth of our Wine Club. We started including Entertainment on Thursday and Friday nights, which also helped grow the business. So, until 2020, things were running along quite smoothly and were integrated quite nicely with the community in Thousand Oaks. It seemed that we could do no wrong.
Then the COVID shutdowns hit. We were shut down five different times in the next 12 months, lost many Wine Club members, and had to drastically cut our Entertainment in addition to moving outside! As far as I am concerned, the State of California mishandled their COVID response to the point of having many businesses go under. The Federal response in 2021 and 2022 made things worse. We were unable to get shipments of wine from our storage in Lodi because we could no longer trust the Trucking Companies. And, with the loss of sales, we actually stopped making red wines as our inventory was so high.
On top of all that, the 4-year combined 20+ percent inflation from 2021 – 2024 made things unaffordable to the point that folks just didn’t want to spend as much premium dollars on wine. People were leaving the State in droves and did not want to pay the now-increased shipping charges to have their wines shipped to them. And all of us in the business felt that impact.
Being ever the optimist, all of these negatives sort-of reinvigorated us to find creative solutions to help bring back the business. So, we are trying new ideas such as “Wine Of The Month”, offering 50% discounts on bottles of wine, or our newest “Love Connection” wine package for Valentine’s Day, or offering discounts on shipping for our ship-to Wine Club members. I believe that we all must go above and beyond what was once “about the wine” in order to survive in this business anymore.

As you know, we’re big fans of Sunland Vintage Winery. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Over the years, we have increased our presence by offering three different brands; Giovinazzo Wines, for the Italian varietals, SVI Wines for the non-Italian varietals, and Bambini Bolle, our Bubblies. I believe that one thing that sets us apart from the others is the fact that we are the most awarded Winery in Ventura County (of the mom-and pop Wineries). Another is that we offer Italian varietals that nobody else is offering…certainly not the number or range of varietals. As an upside to the COVID shutdowns and our huge inventory, our reds have a bit of age on them, and they are drinking extremely well right now and will be for a number of years to come (back to the “old world” style of winemaking).
When people come into our Tasting Room they are met by one of our friendly and knowledgeable employees and immediately feel like they have come into our home. And those that later become true friends invited to our home will realize the similarities. When our Wine Club members join, we, literally, welcome them to our Family. And then I tell them to go to the back room and wash glasses!! (just kidding).
We keep things light and refreshing, tell a bunch of stories, and generally have a good time at Sunland Vintage Winery Tasting Room. Our story, our wines, our hours, our lineup of Entertainment are all on our website www.SunlandVintageWinery.com.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Not so much a “lesson learned” along our journey, but the most important aspect of our business is the way we give back to our adopted community. We have been given the gift of friendship by so many people we have met because we are in this business and have been accepted so well although we don’t even live in Ventura County. We can’t even begin to show our appreciation for the love and acceptance in this community.

Pricing:

• White Wines range from $32-$35
• Most Red Wines range from $40-$48
• Napa and Russian River Cabs $65
• Tastings $20
• Glasses $12-$18

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.SunlandVintageWinery.com
• Instagram: @sunlandvintage
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunlandVintageWineryTastingRoom
• Twitter: @SunlandVintage