Francis Ford Coppola Winery

Where wine used to be the exclusive property of winegrowers, it has now also become the playground of celebrities with a passion for wine. Director Francis Ford Coppola, with great films to his name as Apocalypse Now, is a true wine lover. For him, the decision to buy a wine company in the renowned Napa Valley wine region was a logical consequence of this passion for wine. Actually, in 1975, Coppola was looking for a home for the summer months, where he could make some wine in the basement like his grandparents once did. Wine making has been a tradition in the Coppola family for several generations. Agostino Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's grandfather, made wine in the basement of his New York apartment building. He used cement barrels that he had built himself.

In his search, Francis Coppola came across Inglenook, a special estate in Rutherford, the part of Napa Valley where cabernet sauvignon thrives. The Napa wine company, which produces wines from its own vineyards, was named after its most famous wine, the Rubicon, so it is now known as Rubicon Estate, a producer of absolute top wines. The other wines were housed in Geyserville, Sonoma County, at the Rosso & Bianco Winery. Since 2006 the wines have been made under the name Diamond Collection and Rosso & Bianco, of course as real Coppola wines, with the same high quality requirements. The introduction of this new winery, with all modern techniques, has brought an extra step forward in the quality of the wines under the Francis Ford Coppola Diamond label. This label works with grapes from all over the California coastal strip, where they are purchased from growers with long-term contracts to ensure solid, reliable quality. There is constant consultation between winemakers and growers to arrange all the details of the vineyard management and to determine the exact time for picking. Unlike Hollywood stars, Francis Ford Coppola's wines are by no means superficial: they are powerful, perfectly balanced, have a long finish and are pleasantly smooth. In 2001, the Francis Ford Coppola winery was awarded “Winery of the Year” (Wine & Spirits).