Megan Bell started Margins in 2016 with a crowdfunding campaign and eight barrels of Chenin Blanc. The name was a declaration of intent: she wanted to make wine from the grape varieties and California regions that the mainstream industry routinely ignored, the places and plants sitting at the margins of recognition. Over the next decade she built one of the most thoughtful small portfolios on the West Coast.
Backstory
Bell earned a BS in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis and apprenticed across four countries—Napa, Livermore Valley, Willamette Valley, Central Otago in New Zealand, and the Loire Valley in France—before launching Margins. She based the project in Santa Cruz, eventually opening a tasting room at 402 Ingalls Street that became a gathering point for natural wine enthusiasts in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Margins announced its closure in February 2026, with the tasting room remaining open through April of that year, marking the end of a ten-year run.
The Region
Margins drew fruit from a wide arc of central and northern California, with a particular focus on San Benito County, Santa Cruz Mountains, Clarksburg, Contra Costa County, Arroyo Seco, and Paicines. Bell was deliberately interested in sub-appellations and growers that lacked the prestige of Napa or Sonoma, and she worked actively to help transitional growers move from conventional to organic farming, providing guidance and purchase commitments as incentives.
Vineyards and Farming
Margins sourced exclusively from organically farmed vineyards. Key partners included Siletto Vineyard (CCOF certified) and Paicines Ranch in San Benito County. Bell's minimum standard for any fruit she purchased was organic certification or documented organic management, and she regarded ingredient transparency as an ethical imperative, frequently noting the 70-plus legal additives available to conventional winemakers.
Winemaking
All Margins wines fermented with indigenous yeasts. Grapes were destemmed and handled without temperature control. Wines aged in neutral oak for four to ten months and were bottled without fining or filtration. Sulfur dioxide additions ranged from six to 45 milligrams per liter depending on the wine's needs, at the low end of what most conventional producers use. Nothing else was added.
The Wines
The range at its peak covered more than 25 wines. Chenin Blanc, from both Clarksburg and Carmel Valley, was the project's emotional center. The Neutral Oak Hotel white and red were blended cuvées offering broad access to the Margins style. Single-variety releases included Paicines Grenache, Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir, Arroyo Seco Sangiovese, and Santa Cruz Mountains Barbera—varietals that California rarely treats as seriously as Bell did. Measure Zero was a zero-sulfur bottling for the purists.