Rancheria Cellars
“All great wine is a group effort,” says Founder/Winemaker Doug Margerum. In 2013, he inaugurated Rancheria Cellars as a sister label to Margerum Wine Company to honor this idea. The Spanish word “Rancheria” means a small, rural settlement where collaboration and support benefits everyone.
Doug’s winemaking life has been graced with the support of many talented people. These include his mentors, Santa Barbara winemaking pioneers Jim Clendenen (Au Bon Climat) and Bob Lindquist (Qupé), who taught him winemaking and the art of blending when they collaborated at VITA NOVA winery. Also included are the accomplished employees with whom he has worked with at his wineries and at Santa Barbara’s famed Wine Cask bistro. Doug’s family opened the bistro in 1981. Under Doug’s leadership, it won a prestigious Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence.” As the sommelier, “I could pop corks and see how this or that wine tasted with food,” Doug recalls. “That experience gave me a very clear idea of the wines I wanted to make.”
Doug’s support for his winery team includes a daily sit-down, home-cooked, gourmet lunch. “It is very European,” explains General Manager Brooks Van Wingerden. “Taking that time to just sit, talk, and have a warm meal together is part of our company culture.” And, naturally, the lunches include their wines. “Every wine we put forth is food-friendly,” notes Brooks. “That is our big focus: Wines for the table with high acidity and low alcohol, to enjoy with food. That is the philosophy that we embrace.”
The fabulous wines we featured:
2019 California Cabernet Sauvignon
- Pair With: Marinated Flank Steak with Horseradish Cream and Smashed Potatoes
- Enjoy now or hold up to 5 years.
Tasting Notes: Dark black-red velvet colors with hues of magenta. Aromas of black fruits, taut acidity, and a hint of brioche toast, with plum, spice, and cranberry notes. This powerful, structured wine has intense, structured tannins, balanced acidity, and a nice fruitiness. The length is stunningly persistent with savory fruits, a lush, muscular mouthfeel, and complex fruits that change and reveal as the wine opens in the glass. This wine is Vegan.
2020 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay
- Pair With: Baked Brie with Caramelized Apples and Onions
- Enjoy now or hold up to 5 years.
Tasting Notes: Lovely white-gold hue, transparent, and energetic looking. Vibrant lemon-lime aromas explode from the glass and meld beautifully with hints of white and yellow citrus flowers, stone fruits, young pineapple, and fresh herbs. It is vibrant but smooth on the palate with bright, focused acidity that is balanced by brininess and restrained notes of young tropical and stone fruit flavors, and an underlying river rock minerality. Full and complete on the palate, this vegan wine will complement a wide variety of dishes.
Winemaker's Notes
2019 California Cabernet Sauvignon: Fruit for this wine was selected from a variety of AVAs. The 2019 California vintage was outstanding by all accounts.
2020 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay: The famed Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County supplied all the fruit. The wine underwent 100% malolactic fermentation and fermented and aged in stainless steel.
Santa Barbara County
Doug Margerum
Doug Margerum