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Posted June 2006
Coro Mendocino
MENDONCINO COUNTY—Put eleven winemakers in a room, and chances
are you'll get eleven totally different perspectives on winemaking.
And almost no chance of a consensus on a single style of wine.
Put eleven friends and neighbors in a room, all of whom happen
to be talented winemakers, and you've got something altogether
different. Maybe even brilliant.
The philosophy behind Coro Mendocino tests the
boundaries of the latter: get together a group
of willingly collaborative winemakers from Mendocino
County with a loose set of rules and see what kind
of wine the group can create--together.
Now in its third year, this merry band of creative
thinkers from throughout the region have bottled
more than a thousand cases of wildly disparate
wines under a single label, Coro Mendocino. Working
as a unified team every step of the way (Coro comes
from the Latin "from many to one"), the
wines are peer-reviewed by the group from early
in the blending process, right up until bottling.
Recommendations from the amount of alcohol, to
the final pH and varietal blends have to past muster
democratically, with input from each of the winemakers,
before getting a stamp of approval to become a
Coro wine.
Setting parameters for a distinctive regional
wine, though new to the US, is a practice that's
been accepted for years in Italian and French winegrowing
regions. The idea is to produce a new category
of wines that showcase the spectrum of flavors
and terroir from the county, while maintaining
the individuality of the winemakers themselves.
The rules are simply that only Mendocino fruit
can be used and that Zinfandel (a varietal that
grows well in Mendocino county) must account for
40 to 70 percent of the final blend. After that,
the individual winemakers are free to play with
second and third tier varietals like Syrah, Carignane,
Barbera, Pinot Noir, or Semillon. Depending on
what they choose, the wines may steer more toward
Italian style (using grapes like Sangiovese, Barbera
or Primitivo) or toward Rhone-style wines (using
Syrah), or a uniquely individual style, playing
with a variety of grapes.
 And though not every step of the way is smooth
sailing, Fred Nickel of Brutocao Cellars says that
the group has been able to agree on almost everything…with
few egos getting in the way of making great wine.
For the most part, he says, the winemakers see
it as an opportunity to have some creative fun
in a collaborative environment.
The wines, which share a common label, but also
feature the logos of the individual wineries along
with information about the blend, are produced
annually and released during the Mendocino Wine
Affair. Case production ranges from 286 (Fetzer)
to 92 (Eaglepoint Ranch) though most are increasing
production significantly each year.
The group hopes to increase the number of members
this year, welcoming any bonded Mendocino winery.
Wines are only available through the individual
winery tasting rooms. All of the Coro wines retail
for $35 per bottle.
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