THE LOS ANGELES RIVER WINE COMPANY

In the Summer of 2022, when we moved into our new space, I regarded it only as what we would call a "Production Facility," and a temporary one at that. I still had visions of a bigger, grander, space that would allow us to make wine and offer a tasting room. Receiving guests was one of the main reasons for setting up in the city.

Our two bays were magnificent for winemaking in 2022. We made nearly 2500 cases of wine together with Raj, and never felt anything but ease and joy working in our little, boot-strapped, facility. But we did not really have a suitable place to host guests, certainly nothing like a tasting room. So in spite of loving our work of winemaking on 15th street, I was looking for a new venue for us. I had a fancy place on Santa Fe Avenue in mind, not far away. It was much bigger, and had already been renovated and fancied up by Pernod-Ricard, as a distillery and tasting room for an urban vodka brand they had tried to launch on the verge of the pandemic.

The space would be much more expensive, but I was not worried. We would host so many guests and sell so much wine! And I had an investor lined up to guarantee the lease.

And then Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and the investor was out and suddenly the fancy Pernod-Ricard facility was way beyond reach.

I woke up the morning, crestfallen, but also— palpitating with a kind unplaceable excitement. During the night, the scales had fallen from my eyes. We did not need to move. We were in our proper home already.

We moved all of the barrels out and began painting the next day.

Thus was born 12 Seats— our salon in the midst of a winery. Barrels on one side, deep and joyful discussions in the center— anchored by a table for 12 made by our friend, Alejandro. Kaeley is standing above, surveying the table that will be the heart of our enterprise.

Here is a slide show of the transition from production space to salon: