RACING AGAINST WINE COUNTRY:PAIR'S PASSION FOR PORSCHES, WINE MANIFESTS ITSELF AT AUTO SHOP THAT ALSO SERVES AS HEADQUARTERS FOR GROWING ADOBE ROAD WINERY

The Racer's Group headquarters in an ordinary office park on South McDowell

Boulevard contains a surprising wine tasting room.

Just a few feet from an immaculate auto shop containing a fleet of Porsche

racing cars, a Mediterranean-style curved wood-and-iron door marks the

entrance to the Adobe Road Winery tasting room.

Kevin and Debra Buckler's twin passions -- racing and wine -- are

intertwined in this unlikely venue, displaying their marketing flair for the

unusual.

Kevin Buckler is an endurance sports car racing champion, with multiple

victories at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Fla., and the 24 Hours of Le Mans

in France. He's also held the title of Porsche World Cup Champion.

He has built The Racer's Group into a successful business that manufactures

and distributes performance race car parts, maintains a brisk ''arrive and

drive'' business for out-of-town race car owners and has a six-car racing team

with drivers entering a full schedule of events around the country.

Debra Buckler is chief financial officer of Adobe Road Winery, and the

couple, who live in Novato, has three daughters ages 6, 8 and 10.

The winery, which began as a low-key endeavor among friends making a couple

of barrels of wine for fun, has grown steadily since the Bucklers bought out

their partners in 2003.

''The key is to take what's truly a passion and turn it into a viable

business, and we have to be involved in it,'' Kevin Buckler said. ''We have to

work smarter and with more commitment to become one of the best wineries in

Sonoma County.''

The Racer's Group was headquartered at Infineon Raceway until 2005, when

the Bucklers moved to the 20,000-square-foot office space previously occupied

by the Illuminations candle business.

The entryway houses an impressive collection of racing trophies and

memorabilia, and adjacent wings contain the Porsche parts stockroom, race car

maintenance shop and wine tasting room.

Adobe Road Winery purchases its grapes from Sonoma County growers and

entrusts winemaker Franc Dusak with blending the grapes into palatable wines.

Dusak was hired from Storrs Vineyard in Santa Cruz.

The winery is producing six reds -- cabernet sauvignon, syrah, zinfandel,

pinot noir, petite sirah and cabernet franc -- and one white, sauvignon blanc.

The Bucklers' five-year goal is to create a niche for Adobe Road in the

ultra-premium category with wines retailing in the $30 to $50 range. The wine

has won accolades in competitions such as the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, San

Francisco International Wine Competition and a Savor magazine event.

''The tough part is so many in the business don't have regard for return on

investment. I want to do it as a solid business. It's a passion, not a

hobby,'' Kevin Buckler said.

By focusing on purchasing rather than cultivating grapes, he said, his

staff can select reliable vineyards and store the wine at local crush

facilities.

The winery is barrel fermenting a small portion of its wine at the South

McDowell tasting room, but Buckler would like to gradually increase the amount

stored there.

This year, Adobe Road plans to sell 1,600 cases of wine, much of it to

people on The Racer's Group mailing list.

As Buckler travels the country for car races, he's his winery's best

ambassador.

He loves to pour and patter about what makes his Adobe Road vintages

unique. He speaks with restaurant sommeliers about his racing/wine story with

hopes of spurring them to buy the wines and feature them on their wine lists.

Buckler's plan is to ultimately make between 50 and 400 cases per varietal,

and he recently secured funding to expand the winery.

''A couple of my race car buddies from Texas who are too old to start a

winery invested money to help us grow. We want quality and want to get to a

point where we can make better wine with a slightly larger production,''

Buckler said.

Many of the grapes he purchases are grown in Knights Valley. Zinfandel

grapes come from Dry Creek, and pinot noir grapes are cultivated in the

Russian River area or the Sonoma Coast, with many grown by Buckler's friend

and original partner, Ron Herrerias, at his vineyard on Adobe Road in

Petaluma.

Twelve years ago, Buckler, Herrerias and other friends made ''garage wine''

and used a typewriter to make labels. In 1999, they attempted to make wine as

a commercial venture, and in 2002 the Bucklers took over the business.

The Bucklers hired Denise Sanders as their general manager to run the wine

business. Sanders spent 6 1/2 years at Gary Farrell Vineyards and Winery in

the Russian River Valley.

''What does a race car driver know about wines?'' Buckler asked.

Sanders was responsible for Gary Farrell's production of up to 18,000 cases

annually and knows about the process of getting grapes turned into wine and

selling it. She likes the new challenge of getting wine aficionados to visit

the unusual Adobe Road tasting room.

''A lot of people are getting tired of going to a winery with barrels and

vines,'' she said. ''This is an amazing draw. It's outside of the norm.''

The tasting room is open by appointment during the week and is available

for rental by small groups.

Recently Adobe Road hosted a meeting of doctors who held an educational

medical seminar amidst the race cars and then tasted wines. A vintage Porsche

club also visited the tasting room as part of a midweek outing.

Adobe Road Winery is a member of the new Petaluma Wine Alliance, an

informal group of winemakers and grape growers who are promoting wines from

the local area.

The Bucklers hold tastings at area events and will be at the the Family

Winemakers of California event Aug. 20-21 at Fort Mason in San Francisco.

You can reach Correspondent Janet Parmer at 782-9130 or

jhparmer@comcast.net.