Templeton winery Bella Luna wins prestigious blind-tasting competition two years in a row 

Winning a prestigious blind wine-tasting competition is justifiably impressive, but winning twice consecutively is almost inconceivable.

In April, Templeton's Bella Luna Estate Winery took home top honors at San Diego's 15th annual Winemaker Challenge International Wine Competition for its 2019 Estate Riserva, duplicating its win at last year's event.

The small boutique winery once again landed the title of Domestic Wine of the Year, besting the country's top producers, including its formidable neighbors in Paso Robles, recently named the top wine-tasting region in the nation by USA Today's 10 Best Readers' Choice Awards for 2023.

On the Winemaker Challenge website, director Rich Cook touted the rare achievement: "I've been involved with wine competitions for many years—going back to the late 1980s—and I don't recall a wine from consecutive vintages winning consecutive Wine of the Year awards from the same competition.

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• Courtesy Photo By Amy Hinrichs Photography
• FAMILY IS EVERYTHING "There is something beautiful about being surrounded by people you love when you're at work," says Bella Luna General Manager Nichole Healey-Finn, center. Her father, Kevin Healey, right, co-founder of the winery, oversees the vineyard, while her husband, Lukas Finn, left, is head winemaker.

"It's an achievement made all the more remarkable by the fact that the same vineyard source produced two different blends that reached the same high score. Major kudos to [Bella Luna's team] for bringing the 2019 Bella Luna Estate Riserva from Carly's Vineyard to life in a different but equally compelling iteration as the 2018 vintage."

The cabernet sauvignon-sangiovese blends, which were judged blind by noted winemakers, both received 98 points, making Bella Luna co-founder Kevin Healey wonder "what happened to the last two points."

"But all jokes aside," he continued, "the entire team felt honored that all our hard work over the years in the vineyard was acknowledged."

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• Photo By Cherish Whyte
• DOUBLE TAKE Bella Luna's 2018 Estate Riserva was cabernet sauvignon-heavy, while its successor favored sangiovese. Judges gave the distinctive blends top honors in both the 2022 and 2023 Winemaker Challenge International Wine Competition.

His daughter, General Manager Nichole Healey-Finn, added: "I almost didn't enter the 2019 Estate Riserva as [it] was a complete change from the 2018 vintage."

"When we got the results back, we were all floored. I immediately reached out to the director of the competition and told him how humbled and shocked we were to receive this award again," she said.

The charming, family-run Bella Luna Estate Winery, set on 10 acres in the Templeton Gap District American Viticultural Area, was founded 25 years ago by Atascadero natives Healey and the late Sherman Smoot, an avid aviator whose plane crashed last year while prepping for the Reno Air Races.

The lifelong friends met playing T-ball in 1953, went on to become quarterback and center of the Atascadero High School football team, then served in the Vietnam War. After following separate career paths, they reunited in 1998, at the age of 50, to start a winery specializing in dry-farmed Italian varietals.

Smoot focused on the business side, while Healey oversaw winemaking and the vineyard, having trained under legendary old-vine zinfandel grower and dry farmer Melvin Casteel.

Healey said he developed a love and respect for how Casteel nurtured his Paso vineyard without the use of water. For the next 20 years, he put his newly acquired skills to use as assistant winemaker to Frank Nerelli of Pesenti Winery, now owned by Turley Wine Cellars.

In 1998, Healey and Smoot planted sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon, then welcomed their first vintage in 2001. Carly's Vineyard is named for Smoot's daughter, who also named the winery at age 8 after watching Disney's Lady and the Tramp eat spaghetti on a moonlit date, according to Healey-Finn.

She added that "we even plan events around the full moon whenever we can, and our kids now call the moon 'Bella Luna.'"

The labels are designed by Smoot's wife, Laurie, who has Italian ancestry.

"Her Italian grandparents traveled to Italy frequently and brought back wine on each of their trips," Healey-Finn said. "Laurie remembers her grandpa asking her to go down to the cellar and pick out a wine, and the labels [were] handwritten. So that's what we went for."

Healey ultimately passed winemaking reins to Smoot's stepson Jimmy Zanoli of ZANOLI Wines. Zanoli, in turn, was replaced by current head winemaker Lukas Finn, Healey-Finn's husband.

Healey-Finn, meanwhile, unceremoniously grew up in Bella Luna's wine trenches, "pruning, suckering, thinning, or bird netting," she said.

After obtaining dual degrees in enology and viticulture from California State University Fresno, she sent her resume Down Under and ended up working at Wise Wine in Eagle Bay and nearby 3 Oceans Winery in Margaret River, Western Australia.

What was supposed to be a three-month internship lasted seven years after she fell in love with rising Australian winemaker Finn.

In 2018, the married couple returned to the Templeton estate to help expand the family business. Finn landed a job as assistant winemaker at Eberle Winery before fully transitioning to Bella Luna in 2020.

The winery's award-winning vintages are a collaboration among the entire Healey-Smoot clan, although Healey and Healey-Finn spearheaded the 2019 Estate Riserva.

"I was surprised to hear we had won the Winemaker Challenge again," Finn said. "I thought they were a bit young to release, but it just shows how high a standard we hold ourselves to."

Healey-Finn's goals for the winery are to gradually increase production to 3,000 cases without compromising that family charm and still being able to do all the winemaking themselves, she said.

Her husband added that he is beyond excited "to continue the legacy that Kevin Healey and Sherman Smoot started."

"In my 25 years of making wine ... I have never been involved in such a successful wine project," he said. "It's one of the first wines I've gone from pruning the vines to bottling the wine."

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• Photo By Cherish Whyte
• JOIN THE PARTY Upcoming events at Bella Luna include a pickup party for wine club members on Oct. 7 and winemaker dinner on Oct. 21 with Atascadero chef Anthony Allesmith of The Prancing Chef and music by Paso Robles duo The Racking Crew.

Healey, meanwhile, has more modest ambitions: "putting meat and potatoes on the plate and [having] fun with all the hard work."

The family invites guests to check out their latest tasting lineup via glass, bottle, or flight. Bring your own picnic food or enjoy Paso's Vivant Fine Cheese and Atascadero's Alle-Pia salami, available for purchase.

Stay tuned for the winery's 2020 Estate Riserva—a potential triple-crown winner?

Anything's possible, the family agreed.

"It's definitely something to look forward to," Finn added. "This vineyard just keeps getting better and better."

Paso's gold-studded distillery trail beckons

In addition to being the nation's top wine-tasting region for 2023, according to USA Today readers, Paso Robles also boasts California's only designated distillery trail.

From Aug. 11 to 13, the Paso Robles Distillery Trail will spotlight its 13 member distilleries stretching from Paso and Templeton to San Luis Obispo and Grover Beach.

The nonprofit organization's second annual Distillery Trail Weekend will include tastings of rare spirits, new releases, special cocktails, distillery tours, live entertainment, bites from local chefs, and more. For a full list of participating distilleries and activities, visit pasoroblesdistillerytrail.com.

No tickets are required, although the group is offering an elevated VIP Weekend Experience Copper Card for $125. Cardholders will enjoy one complimentary tasting at each distillery and other perks. Cardholders can return at any time in the future to redeem tastings at any remaining distilleries on their wish list.

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• Photo Courtesy Of Paso Robles Distillery Trail

"It's no coincidence that our trail was born in the heart of the Central Coast wine country," said Lynette Sonne, executive director of the Paso Robles Distillery Trail.

Many of the local distilleries originate from sister wineries, she explained, and nearly all of them use wine grapes as a base for various spirits, including grappas, brandies, gins, and liqueurs. Traditional whiskeys and bourbons also abound.

The esteemed band of distillers has amassed a large collection of medals, most recently from California Mid-State Fair's eighth annual California Craft Spirits Competition held at the Paso Robles Event Center.

Standouts from the June competition include: Autry Cellars, double gold for un-aged grape brandy; Bethel Rd. Distillery, gold and best-of-class liquors for nut liquors and gold for aged grape brandy; KROBAR Craft Distillery, double gold and best-of-show/best-of-class whiskey for single-malt whiskey and double gold and best-of-class gin for contemporary gin; Pendray's Distillery, gold for both its herbal/botanical/spiced liqueurs and amaro; Rod & Hammer's SLO Stills, gold for bourbon; Tin City Distillery, gold for both flavored vodka and contemporary gin; and Willow Creek Distillery, gold for aged grape brandy.

Also consider visiting another award-winning distillery not on the official trail. Atascadero's Central Coast Distillery won double gold, best gin, and best in class for its Walheim Ranch Gin at the all-female judged International Women's second annual Spirits Competition in June. The gin also scored a silver at the 15th annual New York International Spirits Competition in April.

"We're really proud," said owner Eric Olson. "It just goes to show how vibrant and creative the California small-craft spirit industry has become." Δ

Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte is thrilled to cover the country's premier wine and emerging spirits region. Contact her at [email protected].