Our standing rule is to source from local Southern California vineyards. Within that rule we tend to favor small acreage growers, two to ten acres rather than fifty to five hundred. The decision is not aesthetic. The wines from small acreage are systematically different from the wines from large acreage.
Attention
A grower with two acres can taste every barrel. A grower with two hundred acres cannot. The two-acre grower knows each vine, each row, each section's particular conditions. The wines reflect this. The structure of small acreage forces attention; large acreage forces systems. Both can produce good wine; small acreage tends to produce more interesting wine.
Risk tolerance
A small acreage grower can plant Picardan on two acres without betting the operation on the variety. A large operator needs to plant varieties that scale. The small grower takes risks on uncommon varietals, on unusual sites, on biodynamic practice. The unusual choices produce the wines that interest us.
Allocation
Two acres produces, in a generous year, roughly two hundred and fifty cases. Most of it is allocated to a small list of customers before harvest. The club is, for several of our growers, one of two or three buyers. The relationship is direct. The grower knows where the wine is going. The wine is not anonymous bulk.
The trade-off
We pay more per ton for small-acreage fruit. The economics are at the upper end of California sourcing. The wines justify the premium. The members of the club are paying for access to wines that the rest of the market structurally cannot offer at any price.