Francis Ford Coppola’s New Wine Cave Has Already Produced Some Blockbuster Bottles
Nearly 50 years after Francis Ford Coppola and his wife Eleanor first purchased 1,560 acres of the historic Napa Valley Inglenook Estate along with founder Gustave Niebaum’s Victorian home, the first wines from its new cave have been released. A far cry from the original 1879 gravity-flow winery, which the Coppola’s bought in 1995, Inglenook’s new facility—dubbed the Italia Cave—opened on the first day of harvest in 2022. While the reds are due out later this year, we can assure you that Inglenook 2022 Sauvignon Blanc and Inglenook 2022 Blancaneaux are a testament to improved winemaking technique.
The largest contiguous estate on Napa Valley’s famed Rutherford Bench, Inglenook’s 235 planted acres have been divided into 120 unique viticultural areas that are differentiated by a set of concise standards such as year of planting, topography, soil, and daily tastings of the fruit in each harvest area. The new winery’s most prominent feature is a set of 120 fermentation tanks that correspond to the vineyard blocks, in effect creating micro crus that will allow director of winemaking Philippe Bascaules, who splits his time between Inglenook and Chateau Margaux, to study the property’s varied terroir with the ongoing objective of improving the wines’ quality.
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Upon completion of the new cellar, Coppola explained that the one-to-one fermenter-to-block ratio will help to achieve a new level of mastery in the winemaking process. It is highly unusual for a winery this small, producing only 30,000 cases of wine per year, to have this many fermentation tanks. “Our goal is to keep each parcel in its own fermenter and to keep each parcel separate until we’re ready to blend, giving us unprecedented control,” he says. “The new cave winery enables us to do that.”
Created by digging under an existing vineyard that sits on a knoll immediately south of Inglenook’s chateau, the new eco-friendly, 22,000-square-foot cave does not require heating and cooling, as it naturally maintains its temperature throughout the year. Winery wastewater is recycled for vineyard irrigation, and high-temperature steam is used to sanitize barrels, saving significantly on the volume of water that would normally be used to clean each barrel. It also includes 1,000 cubic yards of low CO2 concrete. After Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters convinced the Coppolas to pursue organic farming, it became one of the first Napa Valley wineries to achieve certification back in 1994.
Made in a dedicated white wine fermentation room, the two whites are the first releases from the new winery. A blend of estate-grown Viognier, Roussanne, and Marsanne, Inglenook 2022 Blancaneaux rested on its lees for eight months in 48 percent stainless steel, 28 percent new French oak, and 22 percent older, neutral French oak. It has a bouquet of nectarine, honeysuckle, and river rock. It is full on the palate and has enduring flavors of ripe summer peach, Cavaillon melon, and rose petal.
Made with 76 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 24 percent Sémillon, Inglenook 2022 Sauvignon Blanc has aromas of lemon-lime, yellow currant, and orange blossom. Vivid acidity and full mouthfeel offer a stunning backdrop to flavors of pink grapefruit, apricot, and lemon zest. A splash of carambola lingers into the floral-scented finish. It was lees-aged for eight months in 42 percent stainless steel tank, 35 percent neutral French barrels and 23 percent new French barrels.
Reuniting Inglenook was a labor of love for Coppola his wife Eleanor, who passed away in April 2024. The original purchase was made with the profits from the first two Godfather films, and after decades of acquiring vineyard parcels as they became available, the Coppolas bought the rights to use the Inglenook name from the Wine Group in 2011. Prior to that, wines were produced under the Niebaum-Coppola and Rubicon Estate labels; today Inglenook Rubicon is the winery’s flagship release.
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