Every bottle in the Legacy Collection carries a name on its back label — someone who shaped the land before the wine. This page is where those stories live. We add a new chapter with each vintage release, building an archive of the people, the ground, and the moments that made Brutocao what it is today.
Vintage 2020
Where It All Began: The Story of Irv Bliss
Long before there were vines or a winery, there was a quiet moment on a dusty stretch of road.
In the 1930s, our great-grandfather, Irv Bliss, was driving over the mountains into Mendocino County when he pulled over on Old Toll Road near Hopland. His car needed a rest after the climb. As he stepped out and looked across the valley, he saw something that didn't yet exist—rows of vines stretching across open land where only wild grasses grew.
There was no vineyard. Just a vision that stayed with him.
At the time, Irv was a trained metallurgist, educated at UC Berkeley, on a very different path. But that moment lingered. Years later, in 1943, he placed a bid on a Mendocino ranch—sight unseen. Only after the purchase did he realize it was the very same property he had once admired from the roadside.
That land is now Bliss Vineyard, our home ranch and the foundation of everything we do.
Irv didn't inherit farming—he chose it. Leaving behind his career, he committed fully to the land, growing grapes alongside pears, prunes, and walnuts, and raising cattle. It was demanding, physical work, but it gave him something he couldn't find elsewhere.
He worked with quiet pride, often alongside his daughter, Martha, who helped cut grapes and pick prunes. Those early days in the fields became part of our family's foundation. Martha would go on to raise the next generation—three sons who now lead the winery—and today, her grandchildren continue that work.
The vineyards have grown over time, including the hillside plantings of Contento Vineyard, but everything traces back to that first decision.
Looking across Bliss Vineyard today, it's hard not to think about how unlikely it all was—a roadside stop, a vision, a blind bid, a life redirected. What began as instinct became a legacy.
The Legacy Collection honors stories like Irv's—the moments that shaped not just the land, but the path forward. Because every vintage we produce still carries something of that original vision.
And it all began on the side of Old Toll Road.
About Coro Mendocino
Coro Mendocino is not a single winery's wine. It is an appellation's statement — a collaborative denomination created by a group of Mendocino County producers who agreed, in 2000, to define what a wine from this county could be at its most intentional.
The name means "chorus" in Italian, and that is precisely the point. Each winery in the program crafts its own Coro to a shared set of specifications: Zinfandel must lead the blend at no less than 40 percent; the remaining varieties must be drawn from a short approved list of traditional Rhône and Italian grapes; and every wine must pass a blind tasting panel before it earns the seal. No shortcuts, no exceptions.
The 2020 Brutocao Coro Mendocino is the winery's contribution to that chorus. Estate-grown in Hopland, it reflects a vintage shaped by warm days and cool nights — the kind of season that preserves acid and builds richness at the same time.
The Legacy Collection wines are available at brutocaocellars.com/collection/legacy-collection.
