"One of Santa Barbara’s finest award-winning artisans"
Our Winemaker
Nick is certainly a man with many varied interests. He has already pursued careers in the oil business and as a professional golfer (he played several years on the Nike Tour) prior to becoming interested in wine. He is also another of the cadre of California winemakers produced by the University of California Davis’s esteemed Viticulture/Enology department.
Experience wise, Morello entered the wine workplace in 1998 and became a head winemaker in 2003 with Leona Valley Winery, located in Northern Los Angeles County. After six years, he left to devote his time to his own brand, Morello Wines, a company that has enjoyed a great deal of success in Santa Barbara County producing small lot wines. He also presently consults for a few wineries in Santa Barbara and the Central Coast.
Nick Morello - Winemaker
Nick Morello’s passions are terroir driven wines. “The important thing is making a truly balanced wine,” he recently commented. “That’s where the real talent comes in winemaking. Many people can make wines, but only a few can make a real wine that accurately reflects the terroir of the land on which the grapes were grown.”Morello is also an advocate of bio-dynamic farming and an expert on the many varied AVA’s of Santa Barbara County. He has developed long-term relationships with top growers that assure his wineries an ample supply of quality fruit from which to select. Nick Morello also heaps praise on Robert Mondavi Winemaker Genevieve Janssens as his principal influence in the wine industry. He strongly embraces her philosophy that creativity in wines comes from within utilizing traditional winemaking practices.