BUSINESS SPOT: Days of foot-stomping are in the past

When Jeffrey Dobkin and Julie Thompson-Dobkin started making wine in Newport Beach nine years ago, their winery was their garage — and their assistant grape pressers were 5 and 2 years old.

The couple, who both work during the week as physicians, got acquainted with the wine business through friends who owned vineyards in Santa Barbara. Occasionally, the Dobkins volunteered to press grapes, and it wasn’t long before they got inspired to bottle their own brand. Their first attempt took place in 1998, with half a ton of grapes and eight very purple feet.

“The kids would stomp the grapes in our garage and we would have wine in a year, basically,” Jeffrey Dobkin said.

For three years, the vintners gave their homemade product away to friends and entered it in competition at the Orange County Fair. As it grew in popularity, they opted to make it a commercial enterprise. Thompkin Cellars, on the Westside of Costa Mesa, launched as a business in 2001 and has thrived ever since.

The winery, which has contracts with three vineyards in Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez, provides wine to restaurants and retailers throughout Southern California. It’s a local operation in more ways than one, however, as the Dobkins enlist other Westside businesses to provide labels, etching and even nitrogen gas for their bottles.

Last week, the community rewarded the winery for its longtime support of local enterprise: Julie Thompson-Dobkin was appointed the charter secretary of the Westside Business Culture, a committee that recently launched to encourage development in the sometimes blighted region.

“I like this area,” said Thompson-Dobkin, who grew up in Wisconsin. “It’s much more my style than Newport Beach, to be honest.”

Thompkin Cellars still does most of its production locally, but its days of foot-stomping are now passed; the winery now has its own fermenter and pressing machine. The Dobkins have put out four brands to date and plan to release a new Merlot-based wine later this year.

In marketing their new creation, though, the owners have hit a tough spot. The lead character of the 2004 film “Sideways,” a wine expert, has a memorable — and profane — line bashing Merlot, and the Dobkins hope the film’s popularity won’t hurt sales.

“We’re trying to market it as the anti-‘Sideways’ wine,” Jeffrey Dobkin said. “We’re just trying to figure out what to call it.”