Hey Margins! Could you give us a little history and share the story of starting up Margins Wine?
Margins produces low-intervention wines using grapes from underrepresented regions, vineyards, and varietals. We make wines from organically farmed vineyards, using minimal additives during the winemaking process (SO2 only), and never employing the use of temperature control, fining, or filtration. Megan Bell started Margins in 2016 with a modest crowdfunding campaign to create eight barrels of Chenin blanc. Margins now produces ~2800 cases annually of more than 20 wines.
What was Megan/Melissa/the team doing before Margins Wine?
Prior to settling on the central coast of California, Megan received her BS in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis in 2012 and apprenticed in wineries and vineyards in Napa, the Livermore Valley, the Willamette Valley, Central Otago (NZ), and the Loire Valley (France). She has worked in wine production in Santa Cruz County since 2015.
What does the day to day at Margins Wine look like?
The profession of making wine dictates that the maker will live a very cyclical, seasonal life. We prune in the vineyard in January, bottle in February, travel for sales in March & April, work in the vineyard in May & June, bottle again in July, harvest grapes and make wine from August-November, and rest in December.
What skills did you bring to being a winemaker and business owner, and what did you have to learn on the job?
Some of the challenges were; financial funding, grape sourcing, working several part time jobs for years while getting Margins off the ground.
I knew how to make wine and farm vineyards from working in wine production and in vineyards all over the world. I had to learn financial forecasting, business planning, growth management, distributor relations, and how to secure capital in years of growth.
Wine is a huge industry. What does your company do that differentiates you and makes you a stand out brand for people?
We are one of only two solo woman-owned wineries in Santa Cruz County. Only 4% of wineries in CA are owned by women. We only make wine from organic grapes. We list our ingredients on the label (hand-harvested grapes & SO2/sulfites). We are transparent and honest about the difficulties of running a winery in CA.
We work with lesser known regions, vineyards, and varietals ‘on the margins.’
Is there anything about Santa Cruz that helped with growing the business? Were there any unique challenges that being based in Santa Cruz provided?
I was lucky to develop relationships with certain people in Santa Cruz County that helped me get started in the early days of Margins. Being in Santa Cruz County probably made everything harder, but knowing those select people made things easier.
Santa Cruz is outrageously expensive and lacks the wine industry infrastructure that more developed wine regions in CA have.
In summer 2023, Melissa Russi joined the Margins team as the direct sales manager. I am so grateful that I was connected with Melissa during my search for the perfect candidate. She now runs our Wine Cubby tasting room on the Westside.
What drew you to wine?
I was always more interested in the vineyard side of things, having developed a keen interest in organic gardening and farming while I was a student at UC Davis. I chose to pursue a career in wine mainly because I wanted a career where I could work outside. A love for wine developed later, after many years of tasting and traveling all over the world. I started my own winery because I wanted to see if I could do it. Most folks don’t start wineries without family wine connections or access to a lot of capital.
I like acidic white wines and light reds that are not manipulated. These can be found in regions all over the world, as long as the maker is choosing to pick the grapes at fairly low sugar content and high acidity.
What are your favorite kinds of wine?
I like acidic white wines and light reds that are not manipulated. These can be found in regions all over the world, as long as the maker is choosing to pick the grapes at fairly low sugar content and high acidity.
What aspirations do you have for yourself and Margins Wine?
Santa Cruz County is a very expensive place, and I would like to eventually make a comfortable enough salary where I am not stressed about funding my basic needs.
I am looking forward to summer sales at the Wine Cubby, in hopes that it will help me feel optimistic about climbing out of the immense debt we are in from the struggles it took to open.
Are there any wines or spots that you want to shout out for people?
Natural wines in Santa Cruz County can be found at Bad Animal, Apero Club, Mentone, Staff of Life, and AJ’s Market. Hopefully more local restaurants will follow suit in the coming years, since it doesn’t really make sense to be serving mass-production manipulated factory wines with farm-to-table local cuisine.
Other producers of natural wine in our county include Florez Wines, Stirm Wine Company, Madson Wines, Farm Cottage Wines, and Samuel Louis Smith.
For people interested in finding out more about your wine and what you guys do, how can they engage with you and your wines?
Come visit our Wine Cubby on the Westside Thurs-Mon!
You can also check us out at our website, and give us a follow on instagram @marginswine.
Thanks Margins, thats all the questions we have for you! Get your ticket to the NEXTies to come say hi to them and other movers and shakers being highlighted at this years’ May 17th NEXTies awards! See you there.
