Don Peters has combined wine and wheels at his SLO business. Daughter Mitzi Nunez, left, runs the tasting room
and handles wine marketing. Peters owner of the business, is the winemaker and a certified mechanic.

When Don Peters decided to turn his winemaking hobby into a second business he combined two things that don't usually mix -- alcohol and cars.

In 1998 Peters launched Cerro Caliente Cellars in a hidden corner of his car repair shop, Don Peters Automotive in San Luis Obispo. The temperature- and humidity-controlled wine storage room is secreted behind a giant sliding door that opens to reveal oak wine barrels and cases of wine bottles stored on overhead shelves

In February, Peters added a tiny 8- by 12-foot tasting room at the front entrance to the garage, located near Capitolio Way. Opened only on weekend afternoons, Cerro Caliente wines are also sold through several wine shops and restaurants in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Peters says he got interested in winemaking because he enjoyed drinking well-made wines with complex flavors. When his own vintages collected five gold medals at the 1997 Indy International Wine Competition, he decided to turn the hobby into something more serious.

Cerro Caliente Cellars sits on a side street in a semi-industrial area, with nary a grape vine in sight. Its neighbors are row after row of small warehouses and service-oriented businesses. The tasting room comes as a surprise. Inside, the mauve walls, grape-vine stenciled floors and wine paraphernalia give no indication of its garage origins.

The wine storage room is housed within the garage itself, hidden by mauve-colored sliding door. During special events, the door is pushed open, a portable gazebo is setup at the garage entrance, a carpet is rolled over the floor and the cars arf blocked off with portable folding screens.

What was the inspiration for the design? Since Peters already owned the garage, incorporating the winery into the existing space seemed a natural thing to do. He was able to start a new business without ever leaving his consumers, he says.

How do customers relate to the space? Peters says many of his steady customers weren’t surprised he added the winery, since he has often given his wine as gifts in the past. Newcomers, howevei; are surprised when they find he has a winery inside the garage. Peters says he sometimes sells as many bottles of wine to repair customers as he does through the tasting room.

What he likes: Peters says having the two enterprises in the same location allows him to manage both without being pulled in two directions. Since adding the tasting room, Peters says it’s gratifying to see people’s response to the wine when they first try it.

What would he change? “Probably expand the winery somewhat and especially the tasting room to have more display and tasting area -- more space."