At the end of Harvest 2021, Raj was so impressed with what we were doing in Los Angeles with Lone Wolf and the Cucamonga fruit that he decided to make a substantial amount of his own Southern California wine in 2022. If all went well, it would be just the beginning, and there would be two of us making our own, distinct, wines from the same historical vineyards. Raj proposed that we do it together, under the same roof, and so, with his support, we began a new search, for a new home— no more making wine in parking lots.
In the Spring of 2021, I brought Raj to see our friend Adam Sabelli-Frisch at his 800 square foot winery on the edge of the Arts District. He was in a building that I had first scouted all the way back in 2005, on my first tour of the downtown industrial district. I saw it again in 2015 and spoke with the owner about leasing space, but he had no interest. By 2021, there was a new owner, who had built a business on leasing single bays to small tenants. Raj loved the set up and so we leased two bays, on either side of Adam. This is Raj and Anna and Kaeley and I on the day that we decided to make our home here.
The building was built in 1912 as a lumber warehouse. Each bay on the west side of the ground floor had a loading dock and portal opening up to the railroad tracks, 20 feet away. From 1905 to 1912, the land was an open air lumber yard. Prior to 1905, it was vineyards, all the way to the Los Angeles River, half a mile away.
In the early days of harvest— bringing in fruit and some empty barrels
Kaeley in the doorway of what will become our main space
Kaeley and I worked for weeks on floor plans. We decided to put almost all of the barrels on rails in this room
Racking Palomino to tank on the first days of harvest
Kaeley unloading puncheons, and pondering just where they will go
Toward the end of the day in our main room
Stomping Lone Wolf
Raj shipped a beautiful foudre down from Cambria; we used it to make his Revolution Red. Varsha on top
Dani, Darcy, and Kaeley pressing Maglite Blanc
Jeff and Matthew draining Lopez Rosé
Kaeley bringing the fruit home, ready to unload