Walk into the Toccata tasting room on Copenhagen Drive and you could be in a small village in Piedmont or Tuscany: Italian decor, a marketplace of wine-friendly foods, original paintings on the walls, and a glass of Arneis or Nebbiolo waiting on the bar. This is the Italian-varietal label of Lucas and Lewellen, a Santa Barbara County family winery built on one grower’s lifelong love of the classics.

The story

Toccata is the Italian side of a partnership that goes back half a century. Louis Lucas is a third-generation grape grower who helped put Santa Barbara County on the wine map. His partnership in Tepusquet Vineyards in the 1970s made him one of the first commercial growers in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, planting vines when most of California had never heard of the place. Royce Lewellen, a Superior Court judge, met Lucas through the Santa Maria Wine and Food Society and the Rotary Club of Santa Maria, and in 1996 the two formally founded Lucas and Lewellen Vineyards.

The Toccata label grew out of something more personal. In the 1970s Louis Lucas studied the wine world, identified what he considered the 27 finest vineyards on earth, and spent five weeks in Europe two summers running to visit and learn from every one of them. He came home with a love of the classics, and Italian wines became some of his favorites. Toccata is the result: a sister label devoted entirely to Italian grapes and Italian-style blends, grown on California ground but rooted in old-world tradition.

The wines are made by Megan McGrath Gates, who has been winemaker and director at Lucas and Lewellen since 2007 and brings a background in soil science and viticulture to both labels. Working alongside Lucas in the vineyard, she shapes a Toccata range that runs from crisp, aromatic whites to dark, structured reds, all of it estate grown.

The place

Toccata draws on estate vineyards spread across three distinct valleys of Santa Barbara County, each with its own personality. The Italian grapes ripen mostly on the cooler Los Alamos Vineyard, while warmer hillside fruit and the French varietals for the Super Tuscan blends come from the Valley View Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley. A third site sits in the Santa Maria Valley to the north. This spread lets the winery match each grape to the ground it likes best, which is exactly what Italian varieties demand.

The reason any of this works is geography. Santa Barbara County is shaped by transverse mountain ranges that run east to west rather than north to south, opening the valleys like funnels to the cool Pacific. Marine air and fog pour inland on summer afternoons, so a vineyard can bake under the sun at midday and turn sweater-cool by dusk. That daily swing slows ripening and locks in acidity, which is why grapes like Pinot Grigio, Arneis, and Nebbiolo keep their nervy freshness here instead of going flabby. For grapes built on brightness and food-friendliness, it is close to ideal.

What they grow and make

Toccata is the rare California label that goes all in on Italian varieties, and the lineup reads like a tour of the boot. On the white side you find Pinot Grigio, the Piedmontese white Arneis, the perfumed Malvasia Bianca, and Muscat Canelli, along with a dry Malvasia Bianca Secco and a Sparkling Rosato that opens a tasting on a high note. These are wines built for the table: bright, aromatic, low in oak, and made to make you hungry.

The reds carry the weight. Nebbiolo, the grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco, is the showpiece here, all rose petal, tar, and firm tannin. Barbera brings juicy acidity and dark cherry, the everyday red of Piedmont. Sangiovese, the soul of Chianti and Tuscany, anchors the savory, tomato-loving end of the range. The flagship is the Toccata Riserva, made in the tradition of the Super Tuscan: Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Sangiovese, Freisa, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, a bottle that bridges old-world structure and California ripeness. There is also a Classico red blend that delivers the Toccata style at an easygoing price.

What ties it all together is a point of view. These are versatile, food-friendly wines at fair prices, made to be poured at a long lunch rather than worshiped in a cellar. That is the Italian way, and Toccata follows it honestly.

Farming

The estate vineyards are sustainably farmed and the fruit is hand picked, tended under the eye of Louis Lucas and Megan McGrath Gates. Toccata describes its wines as hyper-local and sustainably grown, blending old-world tradition with farming practices meant to keep the land healthy for the long run. Because every grape is estate grown across the family’s own sites, the winery controls the fruit from the vineyard row to the bottle, which is unusual for a label at this price.

Visiting

The Toccata tasting room sits on Copenhagen Drive in Solvang, the Danish-flavored village at the heart of the valley, and leans fully into its Italian theme. Beyond the pour, it doubles as an old-world marketplace stocked with gourmet wine-friendly foods, original paintings, and unique wine-related finds, so it is as much a browse as a tasting. The mood is relaxed and unpretentious, which suits the wines.

Food pairing

Italian varietals are a gift for the table, because they were bred over centuries alongside the food of their home regions. That shared history is why these pairings feel inevitable rather than invented. Pour the Sangiovese with anything built on tomato: a bubbling lasagna, a margherita pizza, pasta with a long-simmered ragu. Sangiovese carries high acidity and savory, herbal fruit, and acid is what cuts through tomato’s own tang and the richness of melted cheese, resetting your palate for the next bite.

The Nebbiolo wants fat and protein. Its firm tannins bind to the proteins in a braised short rib or aged Parmesan, so the wine tastes rounder and the dish tastes cleaner. Pour the Barbera with grilled sausage or a weeknight Bolognese, where its bright acidity loves the salt and char. On the white side, the Pinot Grigio and Arneis are made for seafood, light pastas, and antipasti, their crispness slicing through olive oil and lemon. The off-dry Muscat and Malvasia, with a touch of sweetness, suit mildly spicy dishes, since the sugar cools heat that a big red would only amplify. For a match to a specific meal, run it through the pairing tool.

To go deeper, explore the Santa Ynez Valley that grows Toccata’s hillside fruit, the wider world of Santa Barbara wine and the grapes that thrive in its fog-cooled valleys, our guide to California red wine for context on the bold reds Toccata makes, and the pairing tool for matching any of these wines to dinner.

Downtown, the Funk Zone tasting rooms offer a different way to drink Santa Barbara County wine, with producers from every sub-appellation pouring within a few blocks of each other.