Tony Coturri: Integrity, Honesty, Responsibility and Experience!

This article is a continuation of the last one. I am researching organic vineyards and the wine makers thereof and Coturri is this day's focus.  Tony has been there for 28 years and has always been an organic grower before organics were a popular style.

Well, as it is true in food, it is true in wine, if you want a quality product it is important to start with the basics!  Quality fruit is always the most important and fruit that has not been adulterated. Who wants poisons and toxins in their wine?  Is this a hard decision?

When you make wine organically you do not place things in it that would harm those that will consume it.  In this day of chemicals and chemists this not likely to be true of those that place profit above quality.

For instance, some less scrupulous individuals will add sulfuric acid (although it is illegal it is also undetectable) to lower PH and give a full mouth feel in wine, how about battery acid in your wine!?

In this day of corporate takeovers, with glitz and glamor, more time is often spent on the bottle and label than on the wine itself. Here is a winery that takes the opposite approach, no pretense, no big marketing campaign, no artist label, or multimillion dollar tasting room!  The focus is on making good wine without chemicals or chemists and additives that you would not want in your wine.  In short, wines made with Integrity!  Coturri up on Sonoma Mountain, where second generation wine maker Tony Coturri does it the natural way, starting with good fruit and 40 years of experience to author wines which are distinctively his!

His skill is such that all his wines are excellent from Pinot Noir to Petite Sirah, consistent with that thread of "Coturri" throughout, starting with the nose!

It is said (and I have experienced) that a great wine maker leaves his signature on the wines he crafts.  Tony is one of the best at this and once you have drunk his wine it is hard to miss the signature as each has a quality that immediately makes one recognize "this is Coturri"!

Now to address the current releases.  If you like Pinot Noir, he has a big one, the 2004, from Jewell Vineyard.  It was on the skins until it was deep and dense, with intense concentrated fruit and rich full mouthfeel with a long and wonderful finish!

Tony's forte has always been his Zinfandel, an Italian tradition, and he has a couple that are very different.  Although the grapes started right next to each, other over there on Sonoma Highway.  If you are traveling from the town of Sonoma, right after Madrone Road, in front of Little and next to BR Cohn, is Chauvet Vineyard.  The old block was planted in 1935 and the new one in 1975.  For the 2005 vintage, the old block is excellent and ready to drink now.  The new block, which was full of fruit and a bit sweet, reminds me of an Italian Amorone.  I think this one will get better as it needs a couple more years of bottle age.

Tony's Sangiovese is really fabulous!  Very Coturri nose, big mouth feel, full fruit followed by an equally long finish.  This is one of the best Sangiovese I have tasted, either here or in Italy. It is an example of why he is known for making some of the best wines from this varietal!

His Mendocino county Petite Sirah is his sleeper wine.  This may turn out to be one of the later day stars as Petite Sirah can take years to develop fully.  Tony feels the Mendo weather is better suited for this varietal and will ultimately be the spot to make this type of wine really shine!  I think his 2004 offering will develop for years to come and I would say this is one to cellar!

This winery is a must for those of you that want a organic tour.  Oh and I know where he is located and it is not easy to find.  Gee, I love being needed!  Yes, I am joking but not about Coturri, this is serious wine!

Coturri is another reason I love what I do!  There is no better place to be than driving the back roads of the wine country! Mark V Marino