A couple of years ago we were sitting with winemaker Antoine Favero on the tasting patio of Mazzocco Sonoma winery in the Dry Creek Valley discussing the winery. As our visit was wrapping up, Antoine asked us if we’d like to accompany him the next afternoon to Jaxon Keys Winery & Distillery in Hopland to taste the brandy lineup. We took him up on his offer and had the best time. We wrote about that and here it is in case you missed it:
Perlises Pick Roadtripping with Antoine Favero to Jaxon Keys for BRANDY – Eve’s Wine and Spirits 101
As we were finishing the brandy tasting, Antoine showed us a bottle of wine with a label with which we were not familiar. It said Jaxon Keys on it but it also said Coro Mendocino. Antoine said that next time we need to check out what Coro Mendocino is all about.
“Next time” took us about two years but we were finally ready to learn about Coro Mendocino as well as explore a little more about what Mendocino County has to offer. When we told Antoine of our plans, he suggested we talk to Hoss Milone, the winemaker for Brutocao Family Vineyards.
We had the great pleasure to meet with Hoss at the Brutocao Family Vineyards tasting room in Hopland. Our visit with him came right as Wine Enthusiast Magazine had announced its selection of Mendocino County as their wine region of the year for 2024. Hoss is not only Brutocao’s winemaker and the spearhead of Coro Mendocino. He is also the President of Mendocino Winegrowers. The excitement in the room was palpable.
What is Coro Mendocino? “Coro” comes from the Latin root for “Chorus”, and Coro Mendocino is a group of winemakers dedicating to “singing the same tune” in showcasing Mendocino County wines. Founded in 2000, participating wineries are required to follow rules regarding their creation of blends to honor the grapes the region is known for. The primary grape is always Zinfandel [40% to 70% of the final blend], to highlight a grape that not only does extremely well in Mendocino County but is really California’s own grape, versus other varietals that are just as well known in other parts of the world. The second tier of grapes is made up of those with Mediterranean heritage, to honor the old Italian field blends: Syrah, Petite Sirah, Primitivo, Carignane, Sangiovese, Grenache, Dolcetto, Charbono and Barbera. None of these varietals can individually exceed the amount of Zinfandel used. Combined, the Zinfandel and these other varietals must compose at least 90% of the final wine. Up to 10% of the wine can be made up of other varietals of the winemaker’s choosing.
Once the wines have spent a year in barrel, the judging commences. The judging is done by the Coro Mendocino winemakers as they judge whether wines are worthy of the Coro label. It is a very rigorous process, as the end results reflect on all participants. In fact, there are four tastings that go on over a period of a few months, but not all the wines make it to the end. And there is a final tasting after the wine is bottled as well. All the wines that are finally approved for release are bottled in uniform size and shape bottles with the distinct Coro label and seal. Each winery name is also on its finished product.
Hoss provided us with tastes of Brutocao’s three most recent contributions to the Coro lineup.
2019 Brutocao Coro Mendocino – a blend of 69% Zinfandel, 24% Syrah, 7% Barbera. Blackberry and blueberry notes with a kiss of clove and cinnamon, followed by a medium to long finish.
2020 Brutocao Coro Mendocino – 61% Zinfandel, 24% Petite Sirah, 5% Primitivo, 5% Carignane, 5% Malbec. Deep garnet color with a hint of spice from the Zinfandel and the Petite Sirah. Ripe plum / moist prune notes, with a subtle saltiness on the medium to long finish.
2021 Brutocao Coro Mendocino – 51% Zinfandel, 28% Primitivo, 15% Carignane, 5% Petite Sirah, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. Very smooth mouthfeel with subtle tannins and an earthiness to the long, lingering finish.
We want to thank Hoss Milone for this wonderful introduction to Coro Mendocino. These are wines that one would want in their cellar. We definitely added to ours. We were looking forward to trying other wineries’ contributions to the Coro Mendocino lineup.
Please note that we tasted several other wines during our visit to Brutocao as well as learning a lot about the winery, but you’ll have to be patient and wait for our next article for that.
Michael and Karen Perlis have been pursuing their passion for wine for more than 30 years. They have had the good fortune of having numerous mentors to show them the way and after a couple of decades of learning about wine, attending events, visiting wineries and vineyards, and tasting as much wine as they possibly could, they had the amazing luck to meet Eve Bushman. Michael and Karen do their best to bring as much information as possible about wine to Eve’s Wine 101 faithful readers.
