New wine shop owner brings eclectic touch to tiny Duncans Mills

We don’t know who the big spenders are, this cadre of America’s wealthiest who gather each year at the Bohemian Grove for a sometimes-controversial men’s-only summer encampment, but now we know something of their taste.

Alice Hunter, the new owner of Sophie’s Cellars in Duncans Mills, hand selected 23 cases of wine for the Bohemian Grove, delivering them July 2.

“It was a nice order,” she said with a broad smile. “It was a smaller group this year, but the men did gather in July.”

Hunter offers a glimpse into the closed-door Bohemian Grove annual gathering on a private 2,700-acre property in Monte Rio along the Russian River, where well-heeled power brokers converge most summers. Many flock in on their private planes and are whisked to the rustic campground by limousine to meet their cohorts. Replacing pinstripe for khakis, they meet while sipping on some of Sonoma County’s finest boutique wines.

Hunter’s order included Rockfish Pinot Noir, Cazadero Winery Chardonnay and Sassoferrato Rosé of Grenache. While she declined to disclose the amount of the sale, she laughed and said it didn’t eclipse the $20,000 order previous Sophie’s Cellars owners John Haggard and David Defries once took from a Grove member.

“I heard about that $20,000 afternoon,” Hunter said about that record transaction. “What a blessing for them. If that were to happen to me, that would be wonderful. John and David had a good relationship with the Bohemian Grove, and I’m excited to continue that relationship.”

“Outrageously prosperous” is how Defries once described the Bohemian Grove traffic and its impact on sales, with $400 to $600 bottles often snapped up. A Grove member, he said, could buy in one day what they had sold in a month.

“People ask me ‘Do you have that relationship with the Bohemian Grove?,’” Hunter said. “‘That’s how John and David made it.’”

While Hunter said she expects to prosper from Bohemian Grove sales, she said she has a broader mission for the wine shop. She purchased Sophie’s Cellars in March because she wants to make it a gathering spot for wine-lovers. While a nearby sign on Highway 116 reveals Duncans Mills’ population is 85 people, Hunter said the wine shop is perfectly positioned for those on their way to the coast.

“Traffic has been good and sales have been good,” Hunter said. “I probably see 75 to 100 people in a week. It was a healthy business even through COVID. … I like to think that people are rediscovering Duncans Mills, which is just seven minutes from Jenner.”

Imbued with both charisma and calm, Hunter is an ebullient, yet relaxed host. On this day, she’s clad in bluejeans, a gray sweatshirt and sandals.

With a different approach than the previous owners, Hunter said she wants to tap into the social aspect of wine. She’s creating a wine club, with a holiday party in the works. She also envisions bringing in winemakers and poetry readings and having live music on Sundays.

“I don’t want it to become a tasting room,” she said. “My idea is to introduce new wines but not necessarily the intricacies of the winemaking process.”

A hold over from the previous owners is Locals Night on Fridays from 5 - 7 p.m., Hunter said.

“I carried on that tradition, but you don’t necessarily have to be local,” she said. “I don’t check ZIP codes.”

Hunter has wines from about a dozen producers on her shelves, with bottlings that range in price from $25 to $80. Current labels include Starfish, Rockfish, Balletto, Colagrossi, Cazadero and Lotus. She plans to expand to about 20 labels, with the goal of rotating in a new producer every week.

While her focus is local wines, Hunter plans to pepper in limited selections from other regions like Washington State and Oregon.

In the past, the shop had white walls and granite counters, but Hunter has opted for a more colorful approach. One wall is painted turquoise, and the shop is filled with eclectic furniture with a punch of color. It seems like a general store of sorts, with an assortment of items made by local producers such as jams, candles, hats and soaps.

Behind the counter is a lamp with a ceramic base in the form of a woman in a lace gown.

“This is my Sophie,” Hunter said. The original Sophie, the shop’s namesake, was Defries’ spaniel.

The whimsy continues outside the shop, on a patio filled with more funky furniture under multicolored umbrellas, where visitors can hear the trickle of traffic on Highway 116 while looking out into an adjacent cow pasture.

Jason Pace was taking in that view recently. The resident of the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco drove up with a friend to stay at an Airbnb in nearby Cazadero.

“The wine is delicious and I like all the eclectic space — all the different chairs on the patio,” Pace said while drinking a Love Wins Sparkling Wine and nibbling on a selection of cheeses. “Even the cows in the pasture are fun.”

Hunter offers a range of upscale cheeses from Spring Hill Jersey Cheese including Mike’s Firehouse Jack, Smoked Yellow Cheddar, Asiago and a Cheddar Style Goat Cheese.

After working for more than a decade at Sebastopol’s Marimar Estate, Hunter evaluated what she loved most about being a manager, first for the tasting room and then for direct-to-consumer sales. She realized it was interacting with wine club members and capitalizing on retail sales.

“When I turned 50 in December, I had a moment when I asked myself, ‘What am I going to do?’” she said. “I didn’t want to spend the next 10 years in meetings and in front of the computer. … My focus here is more on celebrating family and friends, meeting new friends and having them come back.”

Wine writer Peg Melnik can be reached at peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5310.