From Mt. Carmel Vineyard to Ballard Canyon – Every piece of land on the California Central Coast has a story, and this is the legendary story of Piazza Family Wines.
We hopped in the car around 1:30pm on Saturday and started driving up highway 154. I love being in the Santa Ynez Valley on the weekends, where I feel at-home and away-from-it-all. The weather was absolutely perfect — in the mid 80’s and not a cloud in sight. We turned off the 154 and started driving up the winding road in Ballard Canyon, where the views seem endless and the pace of life seems a lot slower. We made one last turn and kept driving higher and higher through acres of rolling vineyards. Ah, there’s Piazza Family Wines! We made it!
We were greeted by their winemaker Gretchen, Tymari, and their friendly puppies, Koru and Moony. I immediately felt welcomed and surprised, actually! I thought we were only tasting Piazza Family Wines, but we also got to experience Gretchen’s personal wine label, Luna Hart, as well. The tasting started out with Luna Hart’s rosé and white wines, and then smoothly transitioned into Piazza Family Wine’s reds.
Ron and Nancy Piazza founded Piazza Family Wines in 2018, however, their story begins long before that in 1989 with a group of Carmelite nuns when they founded Mt. Carmel Vineyard, a historic steep, south-facing cliff at the center of the Santa Rita Hills AVA where Mail Road ends. Mt. Carmel Vineyard supplied pinot noir and chardonnay fruit to a small group of Santa Barbara’s most esteemed winemakers. That’s when they started searching for another vineyard that they could call home. They eventually found the perfect property in Ballard Canyon, with Stolpman Vineyard and Beckmen’s La Purisima Vineyard as neighbors. The vineyard was originally planted in 1999 by Roger Harrison and Hilarie Clarke. In 2013, Graciano was planted. Ron and Nancy purchased the property in 2017 and planted the Italian varietals in 2018 – Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Montepulciano.
Gretchen Voelcker, winemaker, grew up in Pennsylvania on her family’s horse and lavender farm, but found herself living in Europe during high school and college summers. She would visit various wine regions and vignobles in France, which lead to her love of winemaking. She moved to Santa Barbara County after earning a degree in plant science at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and started working at Rideau Vineyard as an intern and assistant winemaker. Gretchen shared that working with Ryan Roark as a vineyard and production assistant was the “catalyst to [her] beginnings as a small batch winemaker.” Along with being Piazza Family Wine’s winemaker, she also has her own label – Luna Hart Wines. Gretchen pays special attention to the fruit and produces high quality, fruit forward wines with bright acidity, and “never turns down the opportunity to experiment and welcomes interesting projects.”
The Piazza family’s home sits on the property overlooking their rolling vineyard and picnic area where you taste the wines with Gretchen, giving the experience an extremely personal touch. The Piazza family opens their backyard to people who visit, and it truly made the afternoon feel intimate. The tasting starts at the production facility, which sits down a short dirt path from the family’s home where you taste Luna Hart’s wine. Afterwards, you walk around the vineyard near their horses until you get to their backyard where you taste Piazza Family Wine’s varietals. While we sipped their wines in the backyard, we enjoyed some freshly baked homemade gourmet bread and olive oil that the neighbors across the street made. I’ve experienced so many wine tastings that I can’t even count, but what stood out to me the most about Piazza Family Wines besides their incredible wines was the personal experience we had. Being able to sit down with Gretchen and learn about the story behind each wine and hear her share why each bottle is special to her made the afternoon incomparable to any other tasting I’ve been to before. Being able to sense her passion allowed me to honor each sip that I took.
There are over 280 wineries in Santa Barbara County and most of them offer something unique, whether its the experience or the wine itself. It’s a double win when they offer a unique experience AND unique wines, which differentiates them from the rest of the hundreds of local options we can choose from. Piazza Family Wines’ Bella Vista vineyard rests north to south in Ballard Canyon, whereas most other vineyards in the neighborhood sit east to west. Between the longitudinal direction the property faces, the various soils, and Gretchen’s unique winemaking, it truly makes their wines even more unique.
We said our goodbyes after we finished tasting the flight of wines and hopped in the car to drive home. The first thing we said to each other in the car was, “That was the best wine tasting experience we’ve ever had.” I’m fully aware of how bold of a statement that is, but it’s the truth. Not only did we leave with big smiles on our faces, but we also left as Piazza Family Wine’s and Luna Hart Wine’s newest wine club members.
— Tasting Notes* —
21 Cases Produced
Aromatics of plumeria, blood orange, white grapefruit, watermelon and creamsicle. Very bright mid palate and a long creamy finish.
Picked early from Hinnrich’s Vineyard in Ballard Canyon and directly pressed. All native ferment aged for 6 months in stainless steel. Unfiltered and unfined.
2019 Luna Hart Grüner Veltliner
45 Cases Produced
Notes of jasmine and orange blossom, lime zest, and key lime, frankincense and white pepper, honeycomb and beeswax. Crispy and bright with a beautiful floral and herbaceous finish.
Made with all organic fruit. 6 hours on skins. Aged half in stainless steel and half in neutral French oak for 6 months. Unfiltered and unfined.
2020 Luna Hart Sauvignon Blanc
42 Cases Produced
Lemon chiffon in color with complex, ever changing aromatics dominated by honeydew, passion fruit, white peach, white grapefruit, mango and orange blossom. Bright, racy mid palate with long lasting dry minerality driven finish.
First release from Grimm’s Bluff in Happy Canyon, biodynamically farmed. 1/3 fermented dry on the skins to add more complex aromatics and dry tannins. Aged in neutral French oak for 6 months. Unfiltered and unfined.
2019 Piazza Family Wines Carbonic Graciano
91 Cases Produced
Mulberry, hints of nutmeg, sarsaparilla, forest floor, chocolate, peat moss, violet, pink peppercorn, California hedge nettle, leather and game. Palate of bing cherry, boysenberry, blackberry, cherry Cola with racy acid and long finish.
Carbonic fermentation for 21 days. 6 months on lees with 25% new French oak. Unfined and unfiltered, native ferment.
2019 Piazza Family Wines Pinot Noir
75 Cases Produced
Clone 667
Dried orange peel, cranberry, white pepper, forest floor, mushroom, cedar, cherry. Vanilla, clove sage, bright acid, bright long finish, smooth and approachable with soft tannins.
20% whole cluster native fermentation. Pressed after 18 days. 11 months in 66% once used French oak.
2019 Piazza Fine Wines Estate Grenache
45 Cases Produced
Dried strawberry, rose petal, pomegranate, crushed raspberry, Bing cherry, forest floor, sarsaparilla, fresh leather, light baking spice, medium body with lengthy tanning, bright acid and chalk minerality.
100% Grenache
40% whole cluster, pressed after 21 days. Unfiltered and unfined. Native ferment.
2018 Piazza Family Wines Nancy’s Cuvee
73 Cases Produced
Blackberry, Cola, cacao, mulberry, clove, thyme oil, crushed lavender, chamomile, leather, berry pie, licorice, smoke. Medium tannin and bright acid.
50% Syrah, 50% Graciano
20 months on lees with 33% new French oak. Unfiltered and unfined.
*Tasting notes provided by the Tasting Menu
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