WINE WEDNESDAY - Francis Coppola's Red Label Zinfandel 2015

After sufficiently boring you with a lesson in old world wine last time I decided to do a complete 180 this week and talk about a wine label that is doing cool new things in California.  If you’ve ever heard of The Godfather …… You’ve heard of The Godfather, so let me give you a sneak peak into famous director Francis Coppola’s plans for his up and coming wine empire that may turn into the Disneyland of wine??? Plz tell me moarrr Austin!

This week’s #WineWednesday bottle is a bottle of ‘Murica: Francis Coppola’s Red Label Zinfandel (Diamond Collection).

WINERY: Francis Ford Coppola Winery
GRAPES: 95% Zinfandel, 5% Petite Sirah*
REGION: California (Mendocino and Lodi)
COUNTRY: USA
VINTAGE: 2015
PRICE: $11 Total Wine

*In America, a wine has to be made from at least 75% of a grape to put its name on the label.  Once you reach 75% you can use whatever blending grapes you want to round it out.

Californ-I-A wine: basically everything good is near San Fran.
Note locations of Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, and Lodi.

BACKGROUND: Alrighty … I first stumbled upon the Diamond Collection one day at Olive Garden when I was offered a wine sample of the Ivory Label (Cab Sauv).  It was enjoyable and unique so I got a glass.  It was especially good with some Godfather-esque Lasagna.  After a bit of research, I found out that it was actually very affordable (like $14 in the right place).  I have sort of left that in the back of my mind til the other day.  I decided this week to expand my Zinfandel experience for your benefit and saw the familiar diamond label mid-peruse.  I snatched it without question and here I am now learning about how this Disneyland winery is taking shape in Sonoma County.

Basically an amusement park gate already.

Soooo now I will explain myself.  Apparently, wine has been a thing in the Coppola family for generations.  Even the confines of a NYC apartment didn’t stop Francis’ grandfather Agostino.  So, it is fitting that as soon as Francis got a ton of money from the Godfather he would slide right into the California wine scene.  The original plan was to carry on the family tradition of making “pleasant, everyday drinking wines” in a small Napa Valley cottage with his wife.  They settled for the Niebaum Mansion (lawl nice “cottage”), which is apparently a huge part of American wine history where Gustave Niebaum made camp sparking Napa Valley’s (specifically the locale of Rutherford/Inglenook) rise to fame and power in 1879.  He started making quality wines as he was keeping a name of great weight in his new Niebaum-Coppola Winery.  He eventually bought and brought back the historic Inglenook name and flew that flag over his growing wine collection.  After a 30 year-long restoration of the famous estate, Francis turned his attention to the 2nd jewel in Northern California’s crown: Sonoma County.

White star in Rutherford area is the Niebaum-Coppola Winery. 

Black star in Alexander Valley is the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.

Right off US-101 is now found the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.  My understanding is this is the new home for the more affordable, everyday wine collections (such as the Diamond Collection) while the big sluggers are still in Inglenook.  He also has other wineries now but that’s not important.  This new Sonoma home already sounds like a must visit and will become a family destination once Coppola’s plans materialize.  Right now you can basically show up, watch the Godfather (among other famous movies) while sipping wine in a cinema on the premises, then waddle on through the estate whilst snapping pics of some famous movie memorabilia, eat at his restaurant to try his wine pairings, then finally take in the amazing California vineyard views.  They also have a nice pool.

“Austin, how can this get better?”  Let me tell you: Basically, he is inspired by his idea of the baseline amusement park: Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen, Denmark).  So, the final plan is to make the Francis Ford Coppola Winery into a “pleasure garden” where entire families can go and be thoroughly entertained.  Kids can run around with/without their parents and ride classic amusement rides while those of age get handed wine with food pairings as they lounge around amidst a beautiful backdrop engaged in jovial small talk.  In a nutshell they combine two of my favorite things: coasters and vino 😍.  I AM SO EXCITED I HAVE ALREADY CHECKED AIRLINE PRICES FOR THIS SPRING.  It would be quite a trip though...time to start racking up them airline points.

Now about the wine.  Zinfandel is America’s wine grape.  It has grown super well since its introduction to Californian soil during the Gold Rush and until fairly recently, nobody knew what it was.  The name Zinfandel is an American construct, but it has been DNA fingerprinted to be identical to Italy’s Primitivo, and originally the Croatian Crljenak Kastelanski.  California had long grown it in bulk (and still does) as a common “jug” and blending varietal.  Little did people know it could be really good til some genius started devoting more attention to the grape.  As far as Coppola’s Red Label, it is not as decorated as its Diamond Collection brethren, but nonetheless has a cool fact sheet from Coppola’s amazing website.

[Petite Sirah (Durif) is a rather rare worldwide grape, despite its popular flavor profile.  It is mainly found in California as a blending grape.  It's a cross between Syrah and Peloursin (the latter being basically extinct).]

Zin.

Petite Sirah.

MY REVIEW:

Look:  I love the label.  It reeks classic Hollywood prestige and even says “Francis Coppola presents…”  The color is very dark and lush but not purple like our friend Shiraz.  It maintains the vibrant garnet red hue that is found in most of your big name recognition reds (Cab Sauv, Pinot Noir).

Sniff:  The old sniffy sniff reveals that this wine has a lot to say and has a booming voice for it.  You can basically smell the power of it from across the room.   I would say there is a lot of vegetal stuff and spice and a huge whiff of alcohol.  As my parents said just a bit ago, “It has notes of big and bold.”  Haha 😂 I wouldn’t disagree.  Putting names to things is tough for this one but it smells very woody, in some ways it reminds me of a pine forest like the pine cone smell and maybe the needle resin.  There is a dried pepper smell but I hesitate to say black pepper…perhaps one of the spicier Hispanic peppers.  As far as fruit there is something but it is overpowered by other things.  I would say it is a black cherry.

Taste:  So much for big and bold (at least in body), this wine is as thin as some Pinot Noirs.  It goes down easy.  Still if you swish it around it builds and the tannins make a bold stage left entry (teehee theater jokes).  There is a feeling that some grainy particles are present in the wine (something I call sandiness) and is usually present with more tannic wines.  I am usually bad at judging acid in reds but I am gonna go out on a limb and say pretty acidic for red…medium to medium-minus.  Not really any sweetness.  There may be a slight bitterness.  Flavor profiles include (get this) grapes: I don’t really ever say this because it’s usually not a main thing believe it or not (except maybe in Beaujolais and native American grapes).  I suppose the tannins are strong enough that not just the tannins are present but the flavor of the grape skin itself.  Funny enough this wine is not very spicy, nor vegetal in the mouth (as anticipated from smell).  It may have some bit of the pepperiness but very slight.

With Italian Food (because duh): Complete 180; fruitiness galore.  I taste cherries, berries, Sun Chips (garden salsa variety), plum (?), and a slight mint or maybe thyme thing (???).  This wine is really good with Italian food, as it should be.  All the tannins and acid go away and you are left with an abundance of flavor.

Overall:  I would say this wine needs food.  This tends to be the case with a lot of “Vino da Tavola” (table wine); that is, cheap, every day wine that Italians have stocked for their weekday tables.  Alone, it seems a bit unbalanced with not too much flavor, but add a little Italian sausage and marinara and you’re golden.  It doesn’t surprise me at all that it is more similar to the behavior of an Italian wine than a Californian as there is obviously some Italian wine-making tradition put into this.  Even ignoring that, California and Italy (I would say) tend to have a lot of varietal comparisons.  Still, the smell of this wine is vibrant and enjoyable, saving some uniqueness points in my book.  Meh, I think there is better value to be had elsewhere but as an everyday wine still pretty good…just food for thought (teehee I am a jokester because the wine gives you more to think about with food).  Meh meh, the other Diamond Labels are probably better.  I am still gonna visit the winery someday.

Francis Coppola made me an offer I could refuse (unless he also handed me some lasagna).

RATING: 4 of 10 without Italian food, 6 of 10 with Italian food
VALUE: $$ of 5