> > Sunce Winery Review — Russian River Valley | WinoNotion

Sunce Winery

📍 1839 Olivet Rd · Carneros, Sonoma Valley
🐾 Dog Friendly 👨‍👩‍👧 Family Friendly 🌄 Scenic Views 🧺 Picnic Grounds 🥂 Estate Wines ✅ Walk-ins Welcome
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Location
1839 Olivet Rd, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
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Tasting
Experiences from $25
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Visitor Details
Official source checked June 2026

About Sunce Winery

Sunce Winery is one of Sonoma County's most genuinely personal family stories. Founded in 1995 by Croatian immigrant Frane Franicevic and his family — sunce means 'sun' in Croatian — the winery produces estate wines from Bordeaux and Italian varietals on their Russian River Valley hilltop property with a warmth and hospitality that reflects the family's Mediterranean heritage.

The estate vineyards are farmed sustainably on rolling hills above Olivet Road, producing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese, and other varieties with a focus on food-friendliness and genuine expression of place. The wines are honest and well-priced — reflecting the same direct approach to hospitality that makes the tasting room experience so refreshingly genuine.

Sunce is one of the last remaining truly affordable and genuinely personal family winery experiences in the Russian River Valley — $15 tasting fee, walk-ins always welcome, dogs and families enthusiastically invited — making it an ideal discovery for visitors looking for authenticity over prestige.

At its Santa Rosa, Sonoma County location, Sunce Winery presents a featured lineup that includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Merlot, and Red Blend. Together, these bottles provide a focused introduction to the varieties, vineyard sources, and style that define the winery's current portfolio.

"A Croatian family winery on a beautiful hilltop in Fulton — estate wines made from Bordeaux and Italian varietals with genuine Eastern European passio"
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Winery Video

Sunce Winery
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Featured Wines

Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Estate Cab from the hillside property — warm, honest, and showing the Franicevic family's Mediterranean approach to Bordeaux varieties in California.
★★★★☆
Sangiovese
Sangiovese
Croatian-inspired Italian varietal — the Sunce family's heritage expressed through California Sangiovese with genuine warmth and food-friendliness.
★★★★☆
Merlot
Merlot
Plush, food-friendly estate Merlot — showing the generous, welcoming character that defines the Sunce family wine philosophy.
★★★★★
Red Blend
Red Blend
The estate house blend — combining Bordeaux and Italian varietals in a distinctly personal expression of the Franicevic family's multicultural wine heritage.
★★★★☆
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Family Walk-In Tasting
$15
Walk in and meet the Franicevic family on their Russian River Valley hillside — one of the most genuinely personal and affordable estate experiences in Sonoma County. Dogs welcome.

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