LITTLE TASTE OF SONOMA.

BLACK ROCK WINEWORKS IS A WORKING WINERY AND TASTING ROOM IN, OF ALL PLACES, PASADENA - BUT ITS ODD LOCATION HASN'T STOPPED IT FROM MAKING AWARD-WINNING_VINTAGES

TUCKED away on a small, nondescript street south of Old Pasadena is a business that might seem better suited to Napa than Los Angeles County. It's a winery, tasting room and all, inside a small concrete block building that also houses a construction company.

Not coincidentally, the owners of Double Eagle Construction also are the co-owners of Black Rock Wineworks. Ed and Eileen Johnson decided to take their interest in making homemade wines to the next big step about four years ago when they established the winery on Waverly Drive with their friends and neighbors Cathy and Mark Maurer.

"When we all sat down and said, 'Let's go for it,' we were nervous;" Ed Johnson said. "It has worked out well. We've shared the responsibilities and made it work. We're all passionate about making good wine."

While Black Rock is not the first winery in Pasadena, it apparently is the only one now operating in the city.

It's a tough business, as illustrated by the old cliche - to make a small fortune in the wine business, start with a large one. Black Rock's revenues were $44,000 in 1997, bolstered by the sale of a couple hundred cases to a wine-of-the-month club. The following year, revenues shrank to $15,000 but then rose again last year to $30,000, an amount the owners expect to equal or exceed this year.

'Lahor of love'

The partners always figured it would take about five years to hit break-even, and that still appears to be the case. What has kept Black Rock in the red are depreciating the equipment and advertising costs.

"Boutique wineries are a labor of love in the beginning," said Paul Kalemkiarian Jr., owner of the Monrovia-based Wine of the Month Club. "It takes a long time - there are low returns and competing with the embedded wineries is difficult."

Fortunately, none of the four owners depend on the winery as their primary income, although the Johnsons say they would like one day to phase out of the construction business and into wine-making.

Johnson was bitten by the wine-making bug in the late 1980s, after a friend sold him some grapes and got him started with home wine-making basics. The Johnsons purchased property in Lake County in Northern California in 1990 and planted seven acres of Zinfandel grapes. On Ed's way to or from the vineyard, he would stop off at UC Davis and take short classes on winemaking.

The homemade wines won medals at various fairs and they received numerous requests from would-be wine buyers. But it's against the law to sell homemade wines. "We kept saying, 'We can't sell it,' but so many people were asking that we thought we should consider going commercial," Johnson said.

The Maurers - both CPAs who enjoyed wine - came on as investors and partners.

Johnson said they decided not to make the most common kinds of wine in order to set themselves apart from thousands of other producers in the state.

"There are 400 to 500 wineries making Chardonnay in California and 350 of them taste the same. It's hard to compete in that market," he said.

Lots of approvals

Instead, Black Rock produces a Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc (called "Fool's Gold") and a Grenache, all of which have won medals. The grapes come from the Johnson's Lake County vineyard, other vineyards in Lake County and the Cucamonga Valley, respectively.

"We found the wines to be very sound quality. It's a very difficult thing to do in the L.A. area," Kalemkiarian said.

To set up their Pasadena operation, the Black Rock partners spent several months getting approvals from a host of government agencies that weren't necessarily familiar with the wine-making process.

"The first question the health department asked is, 'Where are you going to wash your grapes?' I can think of only one winery that washes their grapes; it's not a standard practice," Johnson said.

Most of the equipment was bought second-hand, including the tanks, oak barrels, racks and press. Along with outfitting the 900-square-foot building space, the capital investment amounted to about $100,000, which the couples contributed themselves so as not to go into debt.

The owners all donate their time and services at the winery, which has no full-time employees. Cathy Maurer handles the financial side, and they take turns manning the tasting room, which is open on Saturdays. At crush time, a couple of the workers at the Johnsons' construction firm help out as well.

"We put in a lot of hands-on, sweat equity," Johnson said. "We don't treat it as a hobby. It's a serious business and we're trying to make it successful."

Black Rock's sales derive mostly from the tasting room - which sells gift items such as glasses, corkscrews, aprons and wine books - and from mail orders.

Black Rock also has a "Cellar Club," which has grown to about 50 members, who receive two bottles of Black Rock wine four times a year (at an average per-shipment cost of about $29, plus shipping and state sales tax). Club members are also entitled to certain discounts.

Spotlight

Black Rock Wineworks

Year Founded: 1996

Core Business: Boutique Winery

Revenues in 1997: $44,000

Revenues in 1999: $30,000

Revenues in 2000 (projected): $30,000+

Goals: To become a well-known boutique winery, increase production and quality and be profitable

Driving Force: Consumers' thirst for exceptional wines