2023 Francis Ford Coppola Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley Director's Cut

The Zinfandel is produced with fruit located in the Dry Creek Valley appellation, where the combination of climate and magnificent terroir results in excellent Zinfandel grapes with an intensely concentrated flavor. Half of the grapes are pressed whole, and the must is fermented in open-top fermenters for maximum color extraction and flavor. Subsequently, the wine is aged in a combination of French and American oak, giving the wine, as Coppola describes it, "real shoulders."

In the glass, this Coppola Zinfandel from the Director's Cut series is a deep ruby red, as a fine Zinfandel should be. On the nose, this Zinfandel is a deliciously powerful, full-bodied wine with ripe aromas of fig, raisin, amarene cherries, chocolate, and spices. The Director's Cut Zinfandel is lush, full-bodied, and velvety smooth on the palate. In the mouth, this Coppola is intense and full of flavor with ripe black fruit notes of dried plum, blackberry, spices, vanilla, and a hint of licorice. A small amount of Petite Syrah has been added to this Zinfandel to give the wine a firmer structure and complexity.

Francis Ford Coppola (Detroit, April 7, 1939) is an American director, film producer, and screenwriter known for, among others, The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now, and is considered one of Hollywood's most important directors. In addition, Francis Ford Coppola has been active in viticulture and wine trade since the 1970s. In 1975, together with his wife, he purchased the estate of Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum in Rutherford, California (located in the famous Napa Valley wine region) and the surrounding vineyards. That winery is now called the Rubicon Estate Winery. Coppola is also the owner of the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in the Sonoma Valley.

Winemaking is a long-standing tradition within the Coppola family. Francis Ford Coppola has actually been making wine longer than he has been directing films. Grandfather Coppola used to make wine in the cellars of their New York apartment from grapes specially imported from California. The wines Coppola makes today are no longer the same as those from the New York cellars, but they are made with the same philosophy: wines to drink with friends and family.

The parent company of the Francis Ford Coppola Winery was named USA Wine Producer of the Year by the International Wine & Spirit Competition on November 16, 2011.