ur winemaker Antoine Favero’s belief that wines should be nurtured rather than produced blends perfectly with the Mazzocco philosophy that winemaking is vineyard driven. For Antoine, this means working with growers who nurture their vineyards — listening to the vines and providing them with a balanced environment. In turn, these healthy vineyards yield grapes that become wines with maximum color, opulent tannins and engaging aromas.

Although Mazzocco is a small family-owned winery, our vineyard sources are among the best in the world. Most of Mazzocco’s grapes come from owners Diane and Ken Wilson’s diverse Wilson Family Estate Vineyards in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. These valleys are renowned for producing superior quality fruit. Antoine works closely with the Wilsons, and our other growers, monitoring the grapes throughout the growing season and providing valuable input on yields and optimal picking time.

Antoine and his winemaking team strive to optimize quality in both the vineyard and in the cellar. In the vineyard, this involves reducing yields in favor of quality and rigorously selecting vineyard blocks and grapes. In the cellar, it’s adopting winemaking techniques that best express varietal character.

Antoine is able to capture the spirit of the vineyard using winemaking practices such as cold soaking and employing traditional French techniques such as pigeage (punch down), remontage (pump over) and extended maceration, utilizing indigenous yeast whenever possible. This elevates flavors and captures the essence of the grapes.

Antoine relies upon native yeasts to bring about fermentation that is authentic and true to the wines’ terroir. Although this method is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than using commercial yeasts, native yeasts allows more of the true grape essence to reveal itself in the wine.

Once fermentation is complete and after a gentle pressing, the young wine is aged mostly in French oak barrels to enhance and develop the flavors of each varietal. Antoine prefers Vicard and Taransaud barrels for the Bordeaux varietals and François Frères and Seguin Moreau for Zinfandels.

“I truly believe that crafting an exceptional wine requires not only seasoned winemaking skills but meticulous vineyard management skills as well, nurturing each to its utmost potential,” says Antoine. “My commitment will always be to produce the finest grapes from our vineyards, in order to create the most sumptuous wines possible.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB SCHEID (415)710-9877