2020 Ettore Rosso Blend Mendocino 750 ml

“The grapes don’t know what county they're in.”

We hear this all the time, especially from vintners whose domaines lie just outside high-dollar regions—regions that these vintners know they compete with very closely. 

We’ve been around long enough to know that it’s not all about prestigious place-names. We’ve been blown away by Napa-level Cabs from Lake County to the north, by Premier Crus that best their Grand Cru neighbors—and we were stunned by this Ettore Rosso, grown in Mendocino County.

Mendocino, which lies just north of Sonoma County, is best known for hoppy beer and certain niche agricultural products. But they make PHENOMENAL wine, whether it’s Pinot Noir in the cool, coastal Anderson Valley or Napa-style bottles in the warmer sections. Ettore’s estate is located in Hopland, way in the southern part of Mendocino County. Jump on your car, cruise down 101 for just a few minutes, and guess where you are—Sonoma County, where all of a sudden the wines are famous and three times as expensive. 

Ettore was founded by Ettore Biraghi, the son of flower growers in Italy’s Lombardia region—home to two of our favorite wines, Valtellina and Franciacorta. His winemaking journey brought him from Italy to Switzerland and eventually the United States, where he worked in Sonoma County and Mendocino. When he laid eyes upon the land that would become Ettore winery, he fell in love instantly. 

He brought winemaker Sofia Rivier along with him. She’s a native Argentinian with winemaking in her bloos—her Swiss-born grandfather Jean Rivier founded an Uco Valley winery back in 1956—and she met Ettore when she was studying for her Master’s Degree in Switzerland. She figured she’d help him out with his California project for a year or so. She’s been there for seven. 

Ettore’s vines are aged between 12 and 35 years, and for this wine, the team used about half Cabernet and a quarter each Merlot and Petit Verdot, and extraction was managed during fermentation to minimize rough tannins. After 18 months in a combination of French oak (just a little of it new) and stainless steel, the wine is exactly as they intended: rich, structured, with beautiful fruit but no overextraction or jamminess.