Vintner Voices: Solorio Family Wines with Mario Solorio

Wine: Various Varietals from Solorio Family Wines BIO:  Winemaker, Mario Solorio grew up in a small town of Michoacan, Mexico in a very modest family along with his parents and 12 siblings. Growing up in a very modest family meant they had to source much of their food. Mario and his brothers grew up knowing their parents didn’t have enough to purchase the bare necessities for them. This led him to start a new journey and moved to the U.S. in order to help provide a better lifestyle for his siblings and parents.   Even though Mario was amazed with the land of opportunities, he faced many challenges at the age of 16 years when he arrived to California, such as the language barrier. It was very difficult for him to search for a job as he didn’t know where to start or how to get employed. He lived with his uncle and worked as a gardener for a couple of months.  In 2000 he moved to Napa Valley, and again finding a job was not easy for him at such a young age. However he kept focused; he knew that he had to help support his family back in Mexico and that motivated him to pursue anything. He was hired as a gardener for a private residence, but soon after was offered a job in the vineyards. The first year working in the vineyards was very tough for him as this would be his first ever Harvest season. Despite the obstacles, this brought him a better appreciation of the vineyard workers; as he noticed they were the foundation to the wine making process.   He continued working in the vineyards and met some great people that would teach him some techniques. It was not easy for him, yet he always had great motivation to learn and do his best. After some years he became the vineyard lead and by 2005 he had learned vineyard development, pruning, suckering, leaf removal, spraying, tractor work and how to use all equipment. It was in 2005 that he was given the opportunity to have dual responsibilities, by working in the wine cellar and still leading in the vineyards. In the cellar, Mario learned how to process the grapes during harvest, fermentation, pump-overs, racking of the wines, barrel sanitation, pull wine samples, and blending of the wines. This allowed him to fully understand how taking care of the land and vineyards impacted the wine making process, he had now learned the full wine cycle and soon after became the Cellar Master. By 2013 he had grown a passion for wine making, and that inspired him to achieve his ultimate dream of making his own wine. In 2019, he was promoted to assistant winemaker.   Making his first wine was a new and fun challenge for him. He didn’t have all the equipment needed, but somehow was able to purchase hand crafted tools for wine making. Mario’s had inspiration to move forward with this dream and adventure. His first vintage was 2013 “13 Hermanos” Red Blend, and decided to name it “13 Hermanos” (13 Brothers) to honor his family. When designing the logo, he had a little help from his daughter, Shantal. The first part of the family's last name, Solorio has a Spanish word "Sol" which means "Sun" and she started to draw a sketch of the sun. Mario loved the idea and incorporated the 15 sun-rays to represent his 12 siblings, his parents and himself. To this date, Mario continues handcrafting new and exciting wines for you to enjoy! Website Instagram