Bitter Pops® Margins Pinot Noir Santa Cruz California 750ml – 8249150505204

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir Brix at harvest: 20 Production: 112 cases AVA: Santa Cruz Mountains Vineyard: Makjavich Farming: Certified Organic (co-farmed by Larry Makjavich and myself starting in January 2019) Vinification: 100% destemmed. Fermented on skins for two days. Aged in neutral oak for 10 months. Native fermentation, no fining, no filtration, no other modifications or additions except 20 ppm of sulfur dioxide the week before bottling.

Bio: I stumbled upon Makjavich Vineyard in spring of 2017 while on my way to a square dance on the rural property of a good friend. This vineyard lies on the site of the 8th registered organic farm in the USA. Larry Makjavich planted these vines himself around 2011 and farmed them with friends for eight or so years, making the wine in his basement. Starting in January 2019, I began to co-farm this vineyard with Larry, and Margins has purchased all of the fruit since then. So much of my time and commitment and love for what I do is centered on farming this vineyard as a team with Larry Makjavich. Ever on the quest for something ‘marginal,’ I am always striving to make very light bodied Pinot noir. I enjoy blurring the line between rosé and red wine in order to bring out the qualities of Pinot that I find to be most delicate and appealing.

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.

Much like people living on the ‘margins of society,’ vineyards can be outcasts too. Most consumers of wine are only familiar with a handful of grape growing regions and types of wine. Margins draws attention to vineyards and varietals throughout northern and central California that find themselves on the margins without the recognition they deserve.

Margins is a winemaking endeavor 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 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 started Margins in 2016 with a modest crowdfunding campaign to create eight barrels of Chenin blanc. Margins now produces ~2400 cases total of 20+ wines per year.

In summer 2023, Melissa Russi joined the Margins team as the direct sales manager. Raised among a small plot of vines in the East Bay, Melissa’s childhood was filled with the scent of dried wine on the concrete garage floor, the thrill of outsmarting rodents, and a mouth full of sour grapes. On bottling day, she helped her family turn the house into a winery, hosting thirty friends eager to bottle and get their case of the next vintage. With Spanish and Italian roots, wine had always been a family tradition that blended every gathering with meals and conversations. She became specifically intrigued between the interplay of wine, food, and the connections it forged around the table. Her excitement for experience led her to a harvest internship in Santa Cruz where she learned the operations of the cellar, then later to Chile, where she immersed herself in an organic winery working one on one with the winemaker. Combining her wine experience with a degree in marketing and writing from UC Berkeley, Melissa is now able to orchestrate the interplay between wine and conversation in the Margins tasting room.

‘https://www.marginswine.com/