Zach Pace and the Future of Fine Wine in St. Pete
When Zach Pace moved to St. Petersburg in 2023, he brought with him extensive experience in fine dining, wine education, and Michelin-star hospitality.
After studying economics at Tulane, Pace left the desk job path behind for a career in wine. He earned his WSET Level 4 Diploma and became one of the first certified WSET educators in the U.S. Over the years, he added credentials as a Certified Wine Educator, French Wine Scholar, and International Sommelier Guild Level 3 graduate. He spent more than a decade teaching at the San Francisco Wine School and leading operations at top Bay Area restaurants, including Lazy Bear, the two-Michelin-starred San Francisco destination recently ranked among North America’s best.
That background shaped his philosophy: sourcing rare bottles, leaning into back vintages, and treating every pairing as a story worth telling. “Make it a story,” he said. “Even if the guest doesn’t remember every single detail, they walk away thinking it was not just great food and ambiance, but that they’re richer for the experience.”
Volta Wine + Market at 400 Central
Set to open on the ground floor of the 46-story 400 Central tower, Volta Wine + Market marks a turning point for downtown St. Pete. Anchoring the base of the city’s tallest building, it’s more than a wine shop. It’s the first concept to merge fine wine, grocery, and design-driven hospitality at the heart of the urban core.
Co-founded by Pace and his partner Rachelle Tomushev, Volta reflects both of their backgrounds, his rooted in wine and education and hers in global marketing and creative direction. For Pace, the word Volta, Italian for “change,” captures both a personal and civic transformation. After years teaching and curating in California’s Michelin world, he’s now building something that bridges education and everyday life. “That’s what we’re really trying to bring to St. Pete — to open people’s eyes to a hybrid concept that doesn’t really exist here yet,” he said.
The space blends their expertise into a modern market where guests can browse Florida caviar, Italian pantry staples, and other fine provisions, linger for a glass at the vinyl-spun lounge, and rediscover the idea of a neighborhood wine bar, one built for the next phase of St. Pete’s growth.
noctivore: a Preview of What’s Coming
Before Volta Wine + Market opens its doors next spring, Pace is setting the tone with an intimate dinner series called “noctivore,” a collaboration between Volta and Chef Mario Brugnoli that offers a first glimpse of his approach to wine and hospitality in St. Pete. The series is staged at Brugnoli’s Eat Art Love, which by night transforms into a moody, neon-lit space where guests gather at a single communal table.
The format is intentionally small, with just ten seats, seven courses, and pairings that push boundaries without losing balance. Champagne, he said, is “obligatory,” a reminder that it belongs at the table, not just at celebrations. From there, Pace draws on grower producers, back vintages, and lesser-known varietals. “Boundary-pushing in the sense that they’re slightly unconventional,” he said, “but we’re not going into full natty, just weird for the sake of weird.”
While Pace curates the wines, Brugnoli drives the kitchen. A Clearwater native with Michelin training and a Food Network background, he builds the menu from premium local products, including wild-caught Gulf shrimp from Versaggi, St. Pete Microgreens, and ribeye from Providence Farms. The result is a dining experience that is as much about storytelling as it is about indulgence.
“It’s meant to feel transformative,” Pace said of the series. “Like stepping into an underground dinner party where the food, wine, and atmosphere pull you into another world.”
noctivore, in many ways, sets the tone for what’s to come, offering a glimpse of the hospitality and precision that will soon find a home at Volta.
A Personal Cellar
Over the summer, he and Tomushev hiked the Dolomites, drinking Kerner and Müller-Thurgau in Alto Adige. Back home, their attention turned to lesser-known Piemontese whites such as Timorasso, Nascetta, and Erbaluce, a theme that wasn’t intentional but, as he put it, “kind of been awesome.” In his cellar, a 1998 Château Musar from Lebanon stands apart, a bottle tied to memories of meeting the late winemaker years ago in San Francisco. “The wine ages so splendidly,” he said. “I opened a bottle a few months ago with friends, and it’s still hanging on, with another decade left in it.”
For Pace, wine is about more than taste. It is about history, patience, and transformation. That philosophy carries from noctivore’s communal table to the shelves and seats of Volta, the hybrid wine market and bar he’s building downtown. In a city where true grocery and fine wine retail don’t yet exist, Volta represents the kind of change its name promises, and the kind of future he has come here to build.