A Tale of Two Families

Two families. One ranch. Four generations. Since 1943, the Bliss family has farmed the Hopland hillside above the Russian River. Since 1980, the Brutocao family has bottled wine from it. The two became one when Len Brutocao Sr. and Martha Bliss met at UC Berkeley — and the marriage of Italian winemaking heritage and California farming roots has been in every bottle ever since.

Italian Roots, California Soil

The Brutocao family carried winemaking in their blood from Treviso, in Italy's Veneto, before generations of hard work and a determined, entrepreneurial spirit brought them west to California. The Lion of St. Mark on every label is a nod to those roots. On the Bliss side, Irv Bliss began farming the Hopland home ranch in 1943 — pears, prunes, walnuts, and grapes on the hillside above the river — and the family sold its fruit to top Sonoma and Napa wineries for decades before keeping it, and putting their own name on the bottle in 1980.

The Land

Mendocino is where California's wine country gets quiet. Cooler, wilder, less manicured than its southern neighbors. The hills are steeper. The growers are smaller. The wines have more dirt under their fingernails. We've been farming here since 1943.

The Estate Today

We farm 400+ acres across the Bliss and Contento estate vineyards in the Hopland foothills, making roughly 15,000 cases a year of small-lot estate wine — more than 30 wines from over 15 varietals, all estate-grown. Solar-powered since 2023, with under-vine cultivators in place of herbicides and grape skins composted back to the vineyards, we farm for the long term — the kind of work you do when you plan to still be here in another four generations.

Real Farmers. Real Wine.

brutocaocellars.com · (707) 744-1066
Tasting Room · 13500 S. Hwy 101, Hopland, CA 95449 · Wed–Sun, 10am–5pm

Family Farmed · Four GenerationsHopland · Mendocino · Since 1943