Many wineries conduct release parties to announce their new wines, but Lolonis Winery in Mendocino’s Redwood Valley recently had a different kind of release party.

Nearly a million ladybugs were released into the winery’s vineyards, and in addition to helping keep the aphid population under control, the insects help to sell some wine.

For 15 years Lolonis has been releasing ladybugs into its 200 acres of vines, but this was only the fourth year that they have made the release into an event. Wine club members, growers, neighbors, friends and family were invited and were urged to bring their kids and cameras. Kids had a terrific time.

The ladybug release was timed to coincide with Mendocino Wine Affair, a weekend event sponsored by the Mendocino Winegrowers Alliance.

Phillip Lolonis, winery vice president, gave guests a brief history of the event, explained that the ladybugs had been maintained at a temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit “to keep them from moving around,” then brought out a dozen bags filled with the insects. As the ladybugs were dumped onto a table, they immediately sprung to life and started crawling and flying around, landing on people’s hair, arms, shirts and even on eyeglasses. Lolonis said about three times as many were released this year compared to last year.

The youngsters, who were given plastic pails and small sand shovels, quickly scooped the ladybugs up, ran into the vineyard to fling them among the vines and returned for another bucketful.

Kids also were given a small box printed with ladybug spots on the side, filled with ladybug-related toys and games.

In addition to its numerous wines, Lolonis makes Ladybug Red and Ladybug White, which have become the winery’s best-selling wines, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the company’s total 47,000 case production. Ladybug Red is a blend of zinfandel, carignane, merlot and cabernet sauvignon, and Ladybug White is blended from French colombard, semillon, chenin blanc and chardonnay. Each retails for $13.

The ladybug, which is believed to bring good luck, has become something of a symbol for Lolonis — every label has a ladybug on it and one can be found on promotional material.

Mendocino Wine Affair

The Mendocino Wine Affair featured two events for the public — a Western Wine Round-Up at Parducci Wine Cellars on Friday night, and the gala dinner and auction at Fetzer Valley Oaks on Saturday.

Some 300 people gathered at Parducci, dressed in western attire, and ate authentic chuck wagon barbecue food, sampling Mendocino wines, of course. The next day about 500 folks braved temperatures estimated at 108 degrees and attended the gala dinner and auction, which involved a walk-around tasting featuring more than 50 wineries, followed by a gourmet dinner.

Silent and live auctions raised more than $136,000 for Mendocino County health care organizations, largely through the untiring efforts of Napa Valley’s Fritz Hatton.

The 2003 vintage of Coro Mendocino was debuted during the weekend. This is a wine produced under very strict guidelines featuring a blend of wines based on not less than 40 percent nor more than 70 percent zinfandel.

The 11 participating wineries created an organization whose charter calls for any of the following grapes to also be used, but none may exceed the amount of zinfandel: syrah, petite sirah, carignane, sangiovese, grenache, dolcetto, charbono, barbera and primitivo. The wine is marketed with similar labels, differing only with each winery’s name and logo, winemaker’s signature and varietal content, and all are called Coro Mendocino and priced at $35 per bottle.

Pinot noir showcased

Recent publicity about pinot noir seems to center around the Russian River area of Sonoma County, but to show media the quality of Mendocino pinots, producers of the varietal staged a walk-around tasting and seminar on pinots produced in the county. Charlie Barra, a longtime grower in the county, is credited with being the first to plant pinot in the 1950s, and John Parducci followed shortly afterwards.

But it was actually a sparkling wine producer, Louis Roederer, who started the pinot boom and encouraged more growers to plant it. In the 1970s and ‘80s growers started experimenting with the varietal in the Anderson Valley, which, the Mendocino Winegrowers Alliance claims, is the coolest pinot region in California, cooler even than the Carneros and Russian River areas.

The gala and auction was perhaps the last time anyone could enjoy the facilities at Fetzer Valley Oaks. The parent company, Brown Forman, announced a few months ago that it would sell the property, which includes a tasting room, an inn and a sales room, but it will continue to grow grapes on its 155-acre Valley Oaks vineyard.