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eventually introduced him to his future wife , who was from Orange County and chose the Laguna Canyon site for his third winery .
Huber and his brother grew the winery exponentially . At one point , they had an extra 4,000 square feet of space in the adjacent building and had 150 barrels going at one time . They distributed their wine in 15 U . S . states and exported to China for many years . Laguna Canyon Winery ’ s bottles could be found in Costco , Ralphs and Albertsons stores across Southern California and in some restaurants . Then , in 2019 , Huber bought his brother ’ s share of the business , becoming the sole owner , and decided to downsize right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit . When wholesaling , the winery was producing 5,000 bottles a year and , since downsizing , only creates about 1,000 per year now .
“ Downsizing was the best thing I ’ ve ever done ,” Huber says . “ So now it ’ s really winemaking for passion more so than winemaking for profit . I ’ ve got my 500 members … and retail guests , we ’ re open six days a week as a public tasting room and I ’ m happier than I ’ ve ever been — no headaches and no pressure and no stress . I just love what I do and I ’ m able to meet nice people along the way .”
The tasting room exudes a comfortable , homey feel that ’ s at once modern and rustic with huge wrought-iron chandeliers , farmhouse-style pendants and wine barrels holding up the tabletops . Behind the counter , a large , dark wood cabinet — built by Huber ’ s
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father — displays wine bottles and medals from the fair . Ceramic flooring was replaced with polished concrete and the walls went from a dark clay color to a brighter off-white . And Huber ’ s office was converted to a private event room , which is great for special occasions like bachelorette parties and birthdays . “ It really turned out nice and I think now it ’ s timeless ,” Huber says of the remodeled space .
FROM VINE TO WINE When it comes to making the wine , Huber travels to Northern California in a rented van to get his load of grapes at harvest time . For pinot noir , that ’ s usually in early September .
“ And I ’ m picking grapes in the vineyard so I still have that connection to the land ,” he says . “ I ’ ve still got that agricultural spirit , really enhanced , that I love so much . It ’ s great to be able to be an urban winery and not a vineyard- [ based ] winery . I contract with vineyards throughout Napa County , Sonoma County , Lake County , even Paso Robles [ and ] Monterey . And , in doing that , I ’ m able to integrate different soil compositions and different terroirs into my wine portfolio so that they all are unique and different in their own ways .” In addition to loading up his bins of grapes at harvest time , Huber goes to the vineyards two or three times a year to maintain his relationships with the growers . When choosing vineyards for his supply of grapes , he has four criteria : hand picked , low yield , sloped fields and no machines . “ If
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it doesn ’ t meet those four criterias , I ’ m not really interested ,” he says .
For the best picking conditions , he gets to the vineyard in the middle of the night . “ We pick at usually 2 or 3 o ’ clock in the morning ,” he says . “ And it ’ s great because the Budget rent-a-vans are air-conditioned , so by the time I get [ back to Laguna ], … they ’ re still … cold . It ’ s an eight- or nine-hour drive , sometimes 12 hours , from Lake County .”
Upon returning to the winery , it takes two or three hours to crush a ton of grapes . “ So I ’ ll do an email blast and some of my members and retail guests will come out and kind of watch us crush and maybe throw a fork or two in there and help crush a little bit and kind of get the experience , which is fun .”
After crushing the grapes , yeast is added and fermentation starts , he explains . The yeast eat the sugar , producing alcohol and carbon dioxide , the latter of which rises to the top , bringing the skins with it and forming what ’ s known as a cap . Huber and his team punch that cap down several times a day to extract more color and tannins , and flavor compounds and enzymes from the skins as opposed to large wineries with massive tanks that pump the wine over that cap .
Once the crushed grapes ferment for 12 days or so and the juice has been pressed off the skins , then the mixture continues to ferment in the space behind the tasting room . The red wines also go through a second fermentation called malolactic fermentation .
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THIS SPREAD : J . J . HUBER / COURTESY OF LAGUNA CANYON WINERY |
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