Welcome to the Wine Ghetto: Cheaper than a chateau »

Lompoc is known by most for its federal prison and Vandenberg Air Force Base, but an underground surge of innovative winemakers there could be the city's next claim to fame. These winemakers have adopted a no-frills formula for winemaking, transforming industrial complexes into refuges from the typical snobbery of wine country. Welcome to the Wine Ghetto, where bare-bones, sheet-metal buildings resembling plumbing storefronts hide some of the most exciting wines in California.

"We don't have an 'edifice' complex," jokes Victor Gallegos of Sea Smoke Cellars.

It all started when winemaker Rick Longoria and his wife, Diana, decided to make their own label full time. They had just planted the Fe Ciega vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills and needed to find an inexpensive facility nearby to make their Longoria wines. In December 1998, they took out a lease on a 5,400-square-foot building (which had previously been a carpet warehouse, then an indoor batting cage) at Sobhani Industrial Park in Lompoc. Thus was born the Wine Ghetto.

Several local winemakers took to the idea, renting out the other buildings in the park, thanks to Lompoc's business-friendly atmosphere and the affordability of the spaces. Residents included Sea Smoke, whose estate Pinot Noirs have a hard-core cult following; Fiddlehead, whose distinctive Sauvignon Blancs and Pinot Noirs are Santa Barbara benchmarks; and Brewer-Clifton, maker of coveted vineyard-designated Chardonnays and Pinots. The success Sea Smoke and Brewer-Clifton had has since allowed them to move into larger (but still Spartan) facilities, though Steve Clifton still makes his other label, Palmina, in the Ghetto. Other wineries, including Ampelos Cellars and Bastianich, have taken over industrial parks now dubbed Pinot Prison and Pinot West.

Longoria believes the "alternative experience of discovering this group of wineries tucked away in Lompoc," might just be the future of California winemaking.

Joshua Klapper, for instance, launched La Fenetre and A Cote in 2005 in an industrial location similar to the Ghetto -- Central Coast Wine Services in Santa Maria -- where about a dozen wineries have an equipment timeshare arrangement. His finely balanced and food-friendly wines have already earned places in shops and restaurants all over L.A.

Through working in close proximity, the winemakers operating in these facilities have created a tightly knit communities. "We all support each other without obligation," says Steve Clifton.

Kathy Joseph of Fiddlehead explains, "We're not all doing the same thing, and that's why it works when we do borrow equipment from each other and taste together. It's exciting to have these different personalities making different wines with different approaches."

Many of the winemakers also point out that low overhead means they can reinvest resources back into the vineyards, the equipment and the wine. It has allowed Longoria to experiment with Spanish grapes, Clifton to make Italian varietals at Palmina, and Ampelos to become biodynamic in a short time. "We have to be very creative in how we use  the tight space, though," admits Joseph.

At small wineries like these, every per- son must wear every hat, too. "We are  out in vineyards, and out on the  road, selling wines and telling the  story," explains Peter Work of Ampelos. In that way, these wineries capitalize  upon the Slow Food trend that has  consumers increasingly interested in  the provenance of their food. For wine lovers who seek them out, "we're so  connected with what we're making and how we make it, and we share that," says Joseph.

The Wine Ghetto showcases the ingenuity and creativity of the Lompoc winemakers, and represents a shift in the industry itself. As Clifton sums it up, "You no longer needed to have a chateau on the vineyard to be taken seriously."

--Eric Rosen

Photo courtesy Ampelos Cellars.