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W WN N E M AK II N G I IEMA K N in the area. "I could go to someone like Steve Beckmen, who owns Purisima Vineyard (a source of premium Rhone variety wine grapes) and say, 'I want that row and that row and that row,' and he'd say, 'Sure.' I still have those contracts. I'm not a farmer." Margerum does own and farm a small vineyard near Klickitat, Wash., which yields some fruit for the winery, but he describes that project as mainly "a labor of love." The new facility comes after six years of making wine in some spare space at the Curtis Winery in Los Olivos, Calif. As Curtis grew and Margerum grew and got more complicated, an entirely amicable move was in order. Margerum took what had been the company's case good storage space in a Buellton, Calif., warehouse park and made it into the new winery, turning the former guest room into the kitchen. Another space in the same complex became available for case goods; the offices, which had been on the property where Margerum lived in Happy Canyon, moved to the winery, as did the production Margerum oversees for Happy Canyon Vineyards. And Doug Margerum moved himself to Montecito, Calif., in the hills above Santa Barbara. This elaborate shuffle came, naturally, just on the cusp of harvest time in 2012. Both of the 5,500-square-foot spaces already had some cooling capacity in place, but upgrades were part of moving into the new configuration. Flooring also had to be re-engineered to hold the Hosting daily staff lunches is important to winery owner Doug Margerum. weight of Margerum's two largest (17,000-liter) tanks. Some new production equipment was picked up at the same time, including a Della Toffola press, a new forklift and several new tanks. The humble Buellton facility houses what has become a quite complex operation, one reason Margerum brought in Aussie winemaker Jason Barrette (with credentials from Penfolds) with the 2010 harvest. The core Margerum label focuses on Rhone reds and blends as well as Sauvignon Blanc, but it also turns out small lots of Pinot Gris, Riesling, Chenin almost every grape and a total of 300 tons, the total case output was above 20,000—but that, Margerum says, "is not the plan." The normal targets are more like 6,000 cases for Margerum, 3,200 for Happy Canyon and 2,000 for Cent'anni. No one is talking about making fewer wines, just smaller lots, leaving this still a very intricate undertaking. Moving grapes through their paces The one constant thread that runs through the entire workflow at Margerum Wine Co. is temperature control: "I like ambient temperature winemaking, (though) we do burn a fair amount of electricity in the summer." —Doug Margerum Blanc and two rosés. Wines produced for the Happy Canyon Vineyard include several Bordeaux reds and blends and a Sauvignon Blanc. For Cent'anni, a highend Italian project in which Margerum is a partner, there are two reds and a white. And then there's an Amaro, an Italianstyle fortified herbal digestif and a lot of one-off custom projects. The Margerum website, which boasts all the wines for sale, currently lists 30 offerings—23 of them under the Margerum label—and that doesn't count things that are sold out or not yet released. In 2012, with bountiful harvests of keeping things quite cool, from harvest to case goods storage. One part of the production area is kept at 45º for ambient temperature winemaking, the other at 55º for maturation. The lowered temperatures slow down wine kinetics and help maintain some level of CO2 in many of the wines, something Margerum wants. "I like ambient temperature winemaking," he says; "It's more natural, tanks can get cold spots, and dry ice can burn grapes." He admits, however, "We do burn a fair amount of electricity in the summer." Grapes arrive at the facility and currently get hand-sorted on a Westec Margerum's office park exterior belies the vibrant cellar activity taking place inside. Australian winemaker Jason Barrette joined Margerum in 2010. WI N ES & V I N ES O CTOB E R 20 13 47