Full Belly Files | Margerum Wine Does Lunch Every Day

Matt and Doug before lunch at Margerum Wine Company | Credit: Brooks Van Wingerden

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The harvest lunch is a pretty common thing in wine regions everywhere. The midday meal, often prepared by someone on the staff, gives employees across all job titles and demographics some time to rest after long mornings and connect with each other around a shared table, fostering camaraderie while recharging for the afternoon of remaining work to come.

They are most typically seasonal affairs, prepared only during the couple months during the height of picking, and sometimes just on Fridays, not every day of the week. Serving a lavish lunch every day of the week even just during harvest is just not realistic for a lot of places that barely have enough time or people to cover the basics.

But there are a few wineries that take lunch seriously all year long, serving it to employees every single day that the business is open. The most classic example of this is the longstanding, rather famous feast hosted for decades by the late Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat and the still very much kicking Bob Lindquist (founder of Qupé, now owner of Lindquist Family Wines).

That tradition continues on the Bien Nacido Vineyard facility in the Santa Maria Valley, though with cellar master Enrique “Kiki” Rodriguez doing the cooking rather than Clendenen, and Clendenen’s kids, Knox and Isabelle, holding court alongside Lindquist. I’ve eaten with them multiple times over the past couple decades, including twice in the past six months, with such legends as wine writer Jancis Robinson and sportswriter John Zant.

Possibly the only other winery that serves lunch at such a steady clip in Santa Barbara County is Margerum Wine Company, where longtime Wine Cask restaurateur Doug Margerum built his second act of life as a winemaker into a small enological empire out of a warehouse on Buellton’s Industrial Way. I was invited to lunch there this past Tuesday, and came to wonder whether this consistent culinary attention just might be one key to Margerum’s enduring success, even in a very tight and troubled wine market.

Certainly, despite the constant alcohol industry doom and gloom projected by most of the media these days, Margerum is not the only winery doing just fine right now. In fact, many if not most of the Central Coast winemakers I speak to these days say that they are actually doing quite well, and some are even growing.

Granted, many of these are smaller, bootstrapped operations, often less than 5,000 cases — nimble enough to adjust to market fluctuations and not leveraged to their underpants in debt. They also tend to be very hands-on operations, with owners as winemakers or at least intimately involved in the day-to-day. Savvy customers can sense that, and their loyalty keeps those ships sailing during otherwise tough times.

The difference with Margerum is that it is a pretty big operation, at least by Santa Barbara County’s standards, which have always been dwarfed by regions to the north. Margerum’s facility produces about 28,000 cases a year, of which about one-third is distributed to other markets across the country and world. The remaining two-thirds are sold direct-to-consumer via their wine club and Mason Street tasting room, which functions dually as a restaurant and, in the words of Doug, is a “juggernaut” for sales.

Having owned both a restaurant and wine shop, and been making wine in some capacity since 1986 — originally, in fact, with old friends Jim Clendenen and Bob Lindquist — Doug is better prepared than most to thrive amidst headwinds. He became familiar with staff meals during his decades of restaurant ownership, and that was only reinforced by his experiences with Jim and Bob. I’ve shared one or two such lunches at Doug’s place too, but it had been quite a few years until this week.

As is the usual course of events on a winery visit, we started with tasting from barrels in the cellar, with Margerum’s head winemaker Robert Daughtery and assistant winemaker Carina Crowder leading the way. They showed off samples from the 2025 vintage of Sanford & Benedict chardonnay as well as both white and red wines from their 18-acre estate vineyard, which is planted to 10 Rhône varieties.

There was the estate-grown roussanne (which goes into the new Uber White, a sister to the ever-popular Uber syrah) and marsanne, which goes into the M5 White as well as the Trois Blondes, a tasting room-only blend that also includes viognier and roussanne. Doug went back to the kitchen to finish cooking lunch while we dove into the reds, including the 2025 grenache, which was super fresh; the earthier yet still bright mourvèdre; and the syrah from block 3, one of their most coveted bottlings.

On the menu — which had even been hand-written on the whiteboard, apparently a rarity just for me — was tri-tip (Doug lamented it being slightly overdone, but it still tasted good, thanks in part of salsa); salad with garlic croutons; and grilled asparagus. But the most anticipated dish was the eggy potatoes, in which pan-fried golden potatoes were baked with whole eggs and finished with caramelized onions and butter-fried sage leaves.

I inquired of the inspiration for the dish, thinking Doug must have something like it on his many European travels. But no.

“I had a bunch of eggs,” he replied, and then he just made up the rest. It was indeed the star of the lunch, not counting the 10 or so more wines we tasted as well, including a racy, no-dosage bubbly; the increasingly popular estate picpoul blanc; the Burgundian white blend Fonte (a pinot blanc-pinot gris-chardonnay mix that’s always one of my faves); and the bold Radian Vineyard pinot noir.

Around the two tables were about 10 of us, including employees from the cellar, finance, shipping, and sales departments. (Some of those, it should be noted, are one-person departments.) They bantered like good friends, in both English and Spanish, like they did this all the time. And, according to Doug and his longtime GM Brooks Van Wingerden, they do, every single day that they’re working. Sometimes Doug cooks, sometimes Brooks does, and it’s often now the job of Maria Valdez, who they call the winery caretaker because, said Brooks, “she takes care of everything.”

Do these lunch conversations make for better wine? Do they solve issues before they become problems? Do they add to creativity across departments? Do they make a stronger company overall?

It’s hard to chalk up success to any one thing, but breaking bread with coworkers clearly doesn’t hurt. At the very least, everyone seems a bit happier when meals are shared regularly, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We should all be doing more of this.

Doug Margerum and his team cook lunch for each other every working day of every week.

Wholesale Help for Wineries

For wineries seeking more help in how to sell their wines wholesale, my friend Amanda Wittstrom Higgins — formerly of Ancient Peaks wine, and the founder of Dream Big Darling, among other initiatives — is taking her industry classes on the road.

With her new educational outfit called M. Learning Academy, she and cofounder Peter Baedeker are traveling from Paso Robles to Texas to teach virtual and in-person sessions on how to succeed in wine distribution, even alongside a thriving DTC business.

Their roadshow comes to Santa Barbara on Wed., May 20, 3-4 p.m., at the Dierberg tasting room in the Sta. Rita Hills. Click here for details.

Las Hermanas Tequila Pouring in Montecito

Remember this story I wrote about Toya Banks being the rare African-American woman to delve into tequila making? Well, now’s the time to try her Hermanas Amigas Tequila, as Toya will be pouring samples this Sat., May 2, 1-4 p.m., at the Vons Pavilion on Coast VIllage Road. Go check her out!

More Recent Bites & Bevvies

Whitcraft
Side Street’s vermouth
Elkins Wines
Ashkahn Wines

Among some other recent food and drink highlights:

I stopped by the Natural Coast Wine Fest for a quick couple hours, and was only able to hit a couple rows since I kept running into friends but was trying to make it to the UCSB baseball game. I really enjoyed most everything I tried, including Lost Ranch, Side Street, Elkins, Eislynn, Solminer, Whitcraft, Askhahn, Amevive, Sandhi, and Municipal. I wish I could have stayed longer to see other friends, but it remains the most energized wine event I’ve seen in awhile. (Cofounder Drew Cuddy continues to host eye-opening events in The Factory space, including a tasting of wines from Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, and Hungary on May 6. Sign up here.)
The Independent’s Backyard Brunch event a couple weekends ago was a fun way to spend Saturday morning. Of all the tasty treats, I really enjoyed the pupusas by Elubia’s Kitchen, reminding me that I need to stop by their Isla Vista restaurant for a proper meal.
With a rare couple hours to kill on a Sunday, I stopped by Clark’s Oyster Bar after doing some strategic strike shopping on Coast Village Road to slurp down some wine and eight oysters, one of each from their current menu. I also noticed that their S.B. Restaurant Week menu is quite the steal at just $60. Check it out!
Any day that I wind up getting a Super Deluxe sandwich from Tino’s Italian Grocery on Carrillo Street is already a better day. My friend Travis suggested adding jalapenos awhile back, so that’s my only modification these days. My wife likes the veggie version. I usually get a small tub of giardiniera to snack on while I drive home as well, plus some Italian candies and occasionally an Italian soda.