The Toast of Town : Fillmore Officials Have High Hopes for Giessinger Winery, Ready to Open Today

FILLMORE — City officials weren’t planning a winery.

And Edouard Giessinger, a UCLA laser physics professor whose hobby is making wine, wasn’t necessarily targeting the small Santa Clara Valley agricultural community as the ideal site for one.

But today, hundreds of people are expected to toast the opening of Giessinger Winery, Ventura County’s sixth and Fillmore’s first. It is the latest tourist draw for a community still remaking itself almost three years to the day after the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake that nearly flattened it.

“I like to make wine. I like to drink it,” the Bel-Air resident said in his distinctive French accent by way of explaining his motivation for putting his academic career on hold in favor of the risky winery business. “I get bored very easily.”

Giessinger, 37, is unlikely to be bored with the challenge of his $300,000 investment in Fillmore.

Struggling to overcome its image as a quiet county backwater along a notoriously dangerous highway, Fillmore is inexorably adding elements that officials hope will eventually result in the town evolving into more than a tourist gas stop between two freeways.

The town of 12,800 has replaced its shattered buildings with new ones, while retaining its early 20th century architectural charm. A natural history museum is scheduled to open later this year.

A neoclassical City Hall that opened earlier this month is the centerpiece of a 13-acre downtown revitalization that officials see as an integral part of the revamped community.

The winery sits behind City Hall facing a promenade that lines the railroad tracks connecting the two. A tourist excursion train that runs between Fillmore and Santa Paula is expected to bring the crowds that will frequent two museum complexes, stores located inside converted railroad cars and a microbrewery. Those businesses are also expected to open later this year.

“It’s like a hidden jewel,” Giessinger said. “This area has a lot to offer. It just has to be developed. [City officials] understand the value of this place, and they’re doing everything they can to bring business here.”

He stumbled upon the community almost by accident two years ago while using California 126 as a shortcut between the Ventura and Golden State freeways.

Ventura County’s low-key position within California’s fast-growing wine industry mirrors Fillmore’s modest reputation as a Southern California travel destination.

In contrast to neighboring Santa Barbara County, which in the last quarter century has expanded to 10,000 acres of vineyards and 35 wineries that produce premium wines, the cork remains firmly on Ventura County’s wine industry.

Only two wineries in Ventura County are open to the public--Leeward Winery in Ventura and Old Creek Ranch Winery in Oak View. The county has a mere 23 acres of grape vines, and most of those have been stricken by disease and are largely unproductive, said Ben Faber, farm advisor for the UC cooperative extension.

Ventura County is climatically and economically inhospitable to commercial winemaking, he said. The county’s warmer climate is better suited to growing more profitable fruits and vegetables than grapes. And while the rolling grazing land in Santa Barbara has been transformed into vineyards, such land in Ventura County is dotted with expensive homes.

“Like Paso Robles, so far Ventura County has lacked the sort of visionary leadership and promotion that would distinguish it from other nascent grape-growing areas,” said Jim Clendinen, owner of the highly regarded Au Bon Climat winery in Santa Barbara County. “It’s starting from a 25-year deep hole.”

*

But although the presence of vineyards can be a magnet for wineries, the absence of vines isn’t necessarily a problem. Leeward Winery, for instance, procures its grapes from a variety of sources throughout the state.

“Does Kellogg’s grow the corn for their corn flakes?” asked Leeward’s Chuck Brigham. “You can’t do everything.”

Giessinger is similarly unperturbed by the supposed disadvantages of locating in Fillmore.

Indeed, the lack of competition from other wineries and the Santa Clara Valley’s spectacular scenery were among the attractions that led him to investigate Fillmore’s potential. A $98,000 low-interest loan that city officials were offering as bait for tourism-related businesses also helped.

Giessinger’s family once made and exported wine to France from the nation’s former colonies in northern Africa. Since emigrating to the United States from France in 1982, Giessinger has made wine for family and friends. Enamored with the art involved in the process, he was interested in testing his products on a commercial basis.

A 5,000-square-foot former welding and automobile repair shop next to the railroad tracks was turned into a winery. Giessinger tore down most of the sagging circa-1931 sheet metal structure, retaining only some appropriately rough-hewn wooden roof beams.

In its place has risen a plain white stucco building--which still lacks signs--with a patio for customers and plenty of room for French oak barrels and several 12-foot-high, 3,000-gallon tanks.

He is a one-man operation, designing his own wine labels and drawing up the legal documents for his business.

*

Giessinger Winery offers nine varieties, from the merlot-like Pinot Franc to sweeter dessert wines, such as Muscat Canelli, and more unusual varietals, such as Trebbiano.

Several local farmers have already approached Giessinger about the possibility of growing grapes on his behalf.

“Grapes can grow anywhere,” he said, unconcerned about the county’s less than stellar winemaking track record. “But what kind of quality you can get--that’s a different story. But I think chardonnay will do pretty well here.”

City officials are convinced that the winery is a key building block in their economic development strategy. Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell is already dreaming of having a mini-wine festival this fall, when Giessinger Winery crushes its first grapes.

“It wasn’t part of what my vision was originally, but it certainly does fit the bill of what we have in mind for our downtown area,” he said. “It was something that would add ambience to our community. . . . Fillmore by summertime will be a destination spot in Ventura County--it’s a place where people throughout Southern California will come.”

For information, call 524-5000.