Our sourcing rule is short. Every grape in every bottle we ship comes from a Southern California vineyard. We do not buy bulk from the Central Valley. We do not import. We do not blend in juice from Lodi or Paso. The discipline costs us at the margin, since cheap bulk wine is cheap for a reason, but the wines we end up with are wines no large producer would bother to make.
The math against local
Local sourcing means our cost of goods is high by industry standards. Vineyard land in San Diego County, Temecula, and the inland valleys runs many times the per-acre cost of the Central Valley. Yields are modest. The wines cost more per bottle to produce. Most large operators look at the math and source elsewhere.
The reason we stay
The local growers we work with are not growing Cabernet to compete with Napa. They are growing Picardan, Counoise, Bourboulenc, Cinsault, Carignan, Tempranillo, Mourvedre, varietals that ripen well in Southern California's specific Mediterranean climate and that almost no large producer in the state bothers with. The grapes are interesting because the growers chose them deliberately, and the wines are interesting because the grapes survived the decision.
What the rule excludes
We do not pour Napa Cabernet under our label. We do not pour buttery Sonoma Chardonnay. We do not pour anonymous California red blends. Those wines exist; they are widely available; they are not what the club is for. If a member wants those, the wine shop is two miles away.
What the rule produces
The club's quarterly allocation rotates through wines a member cannot buy elsewhere. A varietal Picardan some quarter. A field-blend Rhone red the next. A Tempranillo from a single old-vine block. The wines have a small audience by retail standards and exactly the right audience for a private wine club.