Dubroff: Sunstone is reimagining the 21st-century winery
Teddy Cabugos III is meeting the mocktail moment.
He and his wife, Djamila, are reinventing Sunstone Winery with a series of strategic moves designed to position the Santa Ynez Valley landmark for a new era in the wine business.
The wine industry is being transformed, he told me in a phone interview on Sept. 22. “Not only in the way people consume alcohol but in the way they think about the wine experience.”
For 35-year-old Sunstone, which Cabugos and his wife have owned since 2019, that means rolling out a new non-alcoholic beverage, changing the way their iconic property operates and expanding into Montecito.
Marketing all of those changes to the public, to event venues and meeting planners will be part of the plan, he said, adding that a new website is in the final stages of design, with rollout expected in October.
Sunstone’s 21st-Century approach is starting to get recognized. It picked up hardware at the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber awards earlier this year and there’s likely more recognition to come. Getting recognition from the Chamber for innovation was a first for a winery, he beamed.
The cornerstone of the strategy is Sunstone Solar, soon to be rebranded as Sunstone Elixir, what Cabugos calls a “wellness beverage” that’s being sold in places like the O Bar at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara as a premium mocktail.
For the 52-acre Sunstone property and its iconic Villa, the reinvention means giving the grounds an upgrade and also getting a food service permit from Santa Barbara County. That means gaining control over food service and the menu, a move he said will make the estate more attractive to meeting planners, wedding planners and businesses looking for a different location for meetings. “The focus is the guest experience,” he said.
Sunstone Elixir, which gets its color from juice from Washington-grown blueberries, is also being sold at retail stores as a luxury beverage. “It looks beautiful in a glass,” he said, and for wineries, it will add a new product for the growing number of people who love to visit wineries but simply don’t drink.
Thanks in part to the Bacara exposure, Cabugos has struck up a relationship with Marriott, owner Ritz-Carlton and other luxury brands and he’s rapidly expanding distribution of Sunstone Elixir across some of its premium properties.
Sunstone Elixir was featured recently at an after-party for the Emmys, and it’s also being sold at L.A. Live. Cabugos has high hopes for new distribution deals via a relationship with the Anaheim Westin at the gateway to its convention center, home of large food-and-beverage-oriented events.
“We’re the first winery with a wellness beverage underneath the same brand,” he said. Having the wellness beverage enables Sunstone to reach its luxury cocktail market and the mass market at retail, without the heavy regulatory burdens of creating and selling alcohol-based products, he added.
By creating a luxury non-alcoholic beverage, Cabugos has positioned Sunstone Elixir to command the $25 to $28 pricesthat come with premium cocktails at upscale bars for single servings. That gives bars and restaurants a cocktail-like alternative without sacrificing revenue. At retail, a single serving can go for around $6, he said.
To bring the reinvented Sunstone to the South Coast, Cabugos recently opened a tasting room in Montecito, close to the Montecito Inn and Lucky’s. That was a deliberate decision to reach an upscale audience, he told me.
Cabugos and Djamila have been paying their dues, serving on the Santa Barbara County Ag Committee, the California Travel Association and Visit California.
He’s bullish on the Central Coast’s prospects in an era of rapid change in the winery business. “Napa is in serious trouble,” he said, because of its reliance on wine to drive destination tourists.
But the Central Coast has beach and mountain experiences as well as an identity associated with higher-quality wines and an outdoor lifestyle, he said.
“Santa Barbara has a massive advantage,” he said. “We can figure this out.”
Henry Dubroff is the founder, owner and editor of the Pacific Coast Business Times. He can be reached at [email protected].
