Margins Wine 'Friendship Bracelet’

The vibe: This month we’ve got not one but two (or three if you subscribe to the funky fourth bottle club) bottles from Margins Wine. Megan Bell has been a champion of natural wine in California for ten years and one of the first to openly acknowledge the headwinds facing independent, first-generation farmers and winemakers. She recently shared the sad news that Margins will be closing and this past harvest was her last. It’s an unfortunate reality and one that is affecting every indy winemaker at the moment. There are too many layers to unpack in a single club writeup but we encourage you to support small wineries by drinking their wine! This wine is especially easy to support since it goes down so so easy. Somewhere between a textural rosé and a very light red, this bottle drinks great with a chill and pairs shockingly well with seafood, from sushi to teriyaki salmon. From Megan: “This wine was named by our dear harvest intern Kathleen to commemorate the wonderful friendship we built during our time working harvest together. It was an immensely difficult season of both of our lives. And there was also much laughter, joy, learning, teamwork, acceptance of change, and beckoning of hope.”

The winemaker: Margins Wine is a small winemaking project of Megan Bell, a winemaker living and working in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Prior to settling on the central coast of California, Megan received her BS in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis and apprenticed in wineries and vineyards in Napa, the Livermore Valley, the Willamette Valley, Central Otago (NZ), and the Loire Valley (France).

The geeky details: 34% Sagrantino, 30% Chenin blanc, 17% Mourvèdre, 10% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc. The Cabernet Franc and Merlot were destemmed and cofermented. The Sagrantino, Chenin, blanc, and Mourvèdre were destemmed and vinified separately, then all the cuvées were blended shortly before bottling.

Serve: With a light chill.

Food pairing: We paired this with a chirashi bowl and it…kinda worked great?! Tons of fruit upfront end with a quick lifted finish, refreshing the palate. Anything you’d drink a bright plum wine with, this is the wine.

Album pairing: Juando - Wind Flow