Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/83237
WINEMAKING TECHNICAL REVIEW Joined at the Hip: Ampelos and Dragonette track, so close to the sea that even cool- climate grapes don't grow there, a cluster of spartan wineries and tasting rooms known as the Lompoc Wine Ghetto serve up the nectar of the gods with all the glamour of a self-storage facility. Meander a few more miles through the nondescript warehouse district and you'll find the home of Ampelos Cellars and Dragonette Cellars, two highly regarded boutique producers of Pinot Noir and a whole lot more. T The rented 10,000-square-foot space has cement floors, ultra-high ceilings and barrels stacked five high. There is no air conditioning or humidity control, because the location hardly ever warms up or dries out. There are no hospitality centers, no wine history museums, no trendy café, no picnic area and no vineyards in sight— but there is a great view of the Lompoc municipal sewage treatment plant. The two resident wine labels plus several small custom-crush projects amount to around 8,000 cases, most of it selling out quickly at more than $30 per bottle. Welcome to modern California artisan winemaking. Learning to share Although Ampelos and Dragonette both began to form as winemaking ventures at about the same time, roughly a decade ago, Ampelos is the senior tenant in their shared space. In 2001 Peter and Rebecca Work cashed out of the human resources company they helped start, and in 2002 42 WINES & VINES OCTOBER 2012 CALIFORNIA Pacific Ocean Paso Robles San Luis Obispo Santa Maria Santa Barbara Ampelos Cellars & Dragonette Cellars Tanks and barrels line the cement floor at the they turned to planting a vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills AVA, where they had purchased former cattle-grazing land in 1999. Their first commercial wines were made in 2003 in a Wine Ghetto facility shared with Presidio Vineyard, and they soon realized they needed to move. Long-time Santa Barbara County winemaker Ken Brown approached them about sharing a space, and they moved into their part of it in 2005. The cellar space is part of a larger build- ing owned by Conception Tile, a custom decorative stone design and fabrication firm, and owner Randy Phillips needed a tenant. The space Brown and the Works took over covered 10,000 square feet and was "just a shell," Peter Work says. Brown's expertise was essential to outfitting the place, and the Works' son Don (already a local winemaker) also pitched in, with Phillips arranging for structural things like drains. NV he Santa Barbara wine coun- try has a few certified faux- Chateaux, but most of it is a little more homey and folksy than the North Coast norm. A few miles west of the beaten Two brands share facility in Santa Barbara County's wine ghetto By Tim Patterson