Brian and Brent talk about how it all started:

A short history from the Cellar Master:

If I had a dollar every time someone asked me, "why are you called Carlsbad Coastal Winery when you are in Oceanside?", I'd be fairly wealthy! Or at the very least, I'd be able to buy a few extra new barrels each year!

Sometimes it's hard for us to look around and believe that we started in Brian's garage in the middle of a condominium complex. We have had enormous support from the community, our friends, and family—and we want to thank everyone.

In the very, very beginning, Brian Vitek had just completed a brief career in politics, started a new job at UPS, and was about to graduate from College. ('Mellow Apathy' is said to reflect the attitudes of some of our political leadership...) So, he threw himself into his new career at UPS and started making wine in earnest. Brian had learned a great deal about the crush and winemaking processes by helping out with a couple of harvests at a local winery. He soon made the determination that he could improve upon some of the processes and learn even more by breaking out on his own. The first official vintage from Carlsbad Coastal was bottled in 2000.

I started helping Brian out the following year—going into 2001 (or it might have been late 2000, I can't quite remember). Wine was the first alcohol I really liked and it is still my first love. One of my first wine experiences was at a wine tasting of value reds and the experience really appealed to the "hey why does it do that?" in me. Why was it that all of these same wines, Cabernet Sauvignons, tasted so different from each other? How was it even possible when fundamentally they were the same ingredients?!

Ironically, this was a wine tasting hosted by Brian in 1998, well before the winery came to fruition, but after he developed an interest in winemaking. You could say this was my launching pad, and soon after I was off and tasting as much wine as I could—I wanted to try everything. Student loan checks became reasons to buy wines as well as books and tuition. I still have some bottles from those times in my cellar right now!

For the first few years, we made wine in Brian's garage and continually sold out of our bottled efforts. Every year we increased the amount of grapes we crushed; every year Brian was constantly researching and honing in on the types of wine he wanted as well as how to improve his processes. I provided an extra set of arms and constant feedback to Brian about the wine’s development. It seemed to work well. We grew from a single barrel on wheels (we had it on a furniture dolly for easy mobility) and a stainless tank to about 10 barrels worth of wine in Brian’s garage. At that point we realized that we should transition ourselves from hobby in a garage to a bonded winery with an official location. Bingo! In the pursuit of our hobby, demand created a business that we decided to run with.

We've been blessed with the help of James Farthing creating our labels, Joe Spirito helping with the tasting room, Denise Wells (my wife) assisting with various tasks during the year and at the crush parties, and most recently AJ Ward has been graciously helping us out on Saturdays in Oceanside. There are others—such as Kim Claus and Holly Vitek who have really helped with cleaning and set up of events and the tasting room too.

Thanks to everyone in helping us grow and assisting us in trying to make the perfect bottle of wine. And it all started in Brian's old garage in Carlsbad...

Please drop by to see us sometime—we'd love to chat with you.

—Brent Wells