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February 2012
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INGLENOOK
Producer profile
Inglenook
It took 30 tumultuous years, but in April 2011, film
director Francis Ford Coppola finally achieved his dream –
the rebirth of Inglenook. Adam Lechmere looks at the
history of this legendary Napa Valley estate and gets
a preview of Coppola’s script for restoring it to greatness
UNLIKE SOME OF his more memorable movie
characters, Francis Ford Coppola hasn’t made many
enemies. Quite the opposite, it seems. I pondered
this as I sat waiting for him at his Inglenook estate
on a beautiful October morning. It was early, but
there were already a few tourists about, and as the
rumpled, stately figure – wearing odd socks, one
bright red and one bright blue – hove into view, he
was accosted by two young women for a photo.
Coppola embraced them both in a big hug and they
tripped off happy as can be.
He is engaging company, peppering his
conversation with asides such as: ‘I don’t know
anything about making wine, but then I don’t know
anything about making movies either. It can be an
advantage.’ Women adore him (he’s a terrific flirt),
and he’s surrounded by loyal and affectionate staff.
So Coppola is popular – but why shouldn’t he be?
He’s one of the world’s most celebrated film
directors; personable, warm, amusing, accessible.
And very rich. But none of that really accounts for
the respect – even reverence – in which he’s held.
Winemakers, winery owners, guys in baseball
caps lining the bar at Ana’s Cantina – no one has a
bad word to say of him. Why? Because he has rescued
an American icon. He’s the saviour of Inglenook.
Take Warren Winiarski, founder of Stag’s Leap
Wine Cellars, who rang one evening to underscore
comments he’d made to me at lunch. ‘The more I
thought about it, the more excited I became. It is
4 4 | F e b r u a r y 2012 • D E C A N T E R
such a high-minded, noble enterprise, to restore
Inglenook to the role it once occupied.’
Then there’s Chris Howell, winemaker at Cain
Vineyards: ‘Coppola’s a hero,’ he insisted. And
Marshal Walker, a winery designer, who recalled
the Coppolas throwing ‘some majorly kick-butt
parties. I was always impressed with the fact that
he and his wife were there dancing, smoking cigars
and having fun with us working-class folks’.
But how about Robin Lail, the dispossessed
daughter of former Inglenook owner John Daniel? It
is well documented that the sale of the revered
estate in 1964 was devastating for her. Lail runs her
own winery now, and when a portion of the
Inglenook estate, and the chateau, came onto the
market in 1992 she was unable to buy. How does
she feel about Coppola’s tenure there? ‘It is fascinating
and exhilarating. He reminds me of [Gustave]
Niebaum and the way he pursued his dream.’
The early years
The dream began in the mid-19th century with the
arrival of a Finnish fur-trader and sea captain of
immense wealth and a yearning to make American
wines to rival Bordeaux. Gustave Niebaum – ‘the
Captain’, as he’s always been known – bought a
680-hectare estate near Rutherford, a spot described
by the San Francisco Examiner in 1890 as one of
‘indescribable loveliness’, and built the splendid
chateau that forms the centrepiece of the estate.
➢
D E C A N T E R • F e b r u a r y 2012 | 45
Photographs: Francis Ford Coppola was photographed exclusively for Decanter by Martin Klimek/Gettyimages.com at Inglenook, Rutherford, California
INGLENOOK
Contemporary accounts show the Captain to
have had an uncannily modern grasp of fine
winemaking. By 1890 he was close-spacing rows to
reduce yields. He introduced the first gravity-flow
system in California, the first bottling line and the
first sorting tables, and obsessed about cleanliness
in the winery. He believed utterly in terroir.
The estate survived Prohibition, and Niebaum’s
successor John Daniel, a great-nephew of his wife’s,
continued the tradition of innovation (he had the
first bulldozer in Napa). Inglenook’s reputation
grew. Vintages such as the 1941 are still considered
among the world’s finest wines.
But Daniel had to sell. He had two daughters
– Robin Lail is one – to whom, for complex social
and religious reasons, he felt he couldn’t leave the
estate. In 1964, Inglenook was bought by a joint
venture of Allied Grape Growers and United
Vintners. The Gallo family had also been interested.
This was the start of Inglenook’s wilderness
years. By 1969, Inglenook had been acquired by
Heublein, a Connecticut-based company, the owner
of Smirnoff Vodka. Heublein began to produce a
wine called Inglenook Navalle, and started the
process which today means most Americans know
Inglenook as the cheapest of jug wines. A three-litre
box of its Burgundy Premium costs $9 (£5.75).
New direction
This is where Coppola, flush from the success of
1971’s The Godfather, joins the story, nipping up to
Napa from San Francisco to look for ‘a cottage,
three of four acres, somewhere we could grow
grapes and make wine like the Italians do’.
Coppola and his wife Eleanor bought the first
tranche of Inglenook in 1975 and steadily bought up
the rest of the estate over the better part of three
decades, through rollercoaster years of bankruptcy
and riches, before finally – in April 2011 – securing
the rights to the Inglenook name for a reported sum
of $14m (£9m). ‘My contract doesn’t allow me to
say how much,’ he says. ‘But it’s in that region.’
From the very start, they knew they had good
land. The part of Inglenook they had bought included
the ‘back property’ as they call it – a swathe of the
Rutherford Bench, that narrow strip of alluvial sand
‘The more I thought about it,
the more excited I became. It is
such a high-minded, noble
enterprise, to restore Inglenook
to the role it once occupied’
Warren Winiarski, founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
and silt that is home to the To-Kalon vineyards and
arguably the best Cabernet land in California.
‘Everyone wanted an option on the grapes,’
Coppola says. And although for a year or two they
sold the fruit, they soon decided that if it was so
good, why not try and make some wine themselves?
‘So I borrowed $20,000 from my mother to buy some
tanks and worked with an amateur winemaker up
the street. And we made the first Rubicons [the
former name for the estate wines] – 1978 and 1979.’
It wasn’t an auspicious beginning. He was broke,
for a start. After The Godfather he wanted to make a
Vietnam epic, but the studios just wanted more
gangster films – ‘no one would give me the money
to make Apocalypse Now.’ So he paid for it himself.
‘I ended up owing US$21m – it looked like I’d lose it
all because it seemed like no one liked [the film]. I
was on the verge. I was in bankruptcy.’
But he wouldn’t declare himself bankrupt. He
was despondent; Eleanor was refused credit at the
local stores. ‘I had arrived at a kind of paradise and
I was only there in order to lose it.’ He spent the
1980s ‘doing one film a year just to pay off the debt.’
Chasing the dream
It wasn’t until the success of Bram Stoker’s Dracula,
in 1992, that he became properly solvent, and in
1995 was able to buy the next piece of the estate
that came on the market – the front vineyards and
the Inglenook chateau itself. He still didn’t have the
Inglenook name, of course, so he called it Niebaum- ➢
Right: the chateau, and front vineyards, is the centrepiece
of the Inglenook estate, which Coppola bought in 1995
Inglenook: a timeline
1879
1882
Watson sells the Inglenook land
to Judge S Clinton Hastings, who
sells it to Gustave Niebaum (below),
a wealthy Finnish sea captain
1872
William C Watson, son-in-law of George C
Yount (founder of Yountville) and manager of
the Bank of Napa, buys the 32ha G Koni farm.
He names it Inglenook, a Scottish expression
meaning ‘cosy corner’ and plants the first vines
46 | F e b r u a r y 2012 • D E C A N T E R
The first vintage of Inglenook is produced in a
makeshift cellar on the back of the property.
Niebaum distinguishes himself from other
growers by sorting all his grapes and separating
them from field debris before they are crushed
1881
Niebaum travels to Europe to
buy rootstock in Bordeaux.
A year later, the first Merlot in
the Napa Valley is planted on
the Inglenook Estate
1886
Inglenook wines are lauded
as the best of California
at a tasting held by the
Wine and Spirit Traders’
Society of New York
1888
1908
Construction of the
Inglenook winery is
completed. Built into a hill,
it is the first gravity-flow
winery in the Napa Valley
1941
Gustave Niebaum dies.
Inglenook closes for three years
before John Daniel Sr and his
family help Niebaum’s widow
reopen the winery
1891
Inglenook is
served at the
White House to
President Grover
Cleveland (above)
Daniel becomes
director of
California’s Wine
Institute, holding
the job for 28 years
1936
Mrs Niebaum dies.
John Daniel Jr
(above) inherits the
estate
1964
Daniel sells the Inglenook name, the
chateau and 29ha of vineyards to
Allied Grape Growers (and then
United Vintners), retaining the
Niebaum mansion and 607ha
➢
D E C A N T E R • F e b r u a r y 2012 | 47
INGLENOOK
Coppola, filled it with memorabilia from his films,
and watched the visitors pour in. ‘It was
unbelievable. The first year we made $9m, the
second year $18m, the third year we made $40m.’
But he began to be appalled by his
commercialisation of the venerable estate. He still
cherished his dream of making a great wine, ‘in the
spirit of Inglenook’, as he puts it, and couldn’t square
that with the hordes that came to gawp at Dracula’s
cape and Don Corleone’s desk. ‘I said to my wife, I’m
worse than Heublein. I’ve taken this historic place,
that made great wines, and I’ve turned it into a mall.’
So eight years ago, he opened the unashamedly
commercial Francis Ford Coppola Winery in
Sonoma, and cleared Inglenook of the film glitz.
Soon the Inglenook retail space will be closed – the
better to concentrate on restoring the estate to its
past glory. And what glory! Coppola said that when
he first bought the house in 1975, he and his
neighbour Robert Mondavi opened a bottle of the
1890. ‘The aroma of this wine permeated the room.’
I haven’t tasted the 1890, but I have had three
old Inglenooks whose aromas were as seductive.
The finest, by a hair, was a 1958 Cabernet tasted
over lunch with Coppola in London, closely followed
by a 1951 Pinot Noir and a 1961 Cabernet, which
have the brightest, freshest, most charming palates
you can imagine. Others agree. Jancis Robinson MW
said the 1958 was ‘ethereal’ – the best of that
vintage she’d ever had.
Forging ahead
That tasting with Mondavi sparked Coppola’s desire
to make Inglenook a wine that could take its place
among the greats. Those 60-year-old wines make
you understand why Coppola is so certain he can
succeed. ‘What we want to achieve is to make a
premier cru wine that is known around the world.
We know Inglenook made great wine 50 years ago,
and we know it made great wine 100 years ago. So
the aim is to make sure we follow in that tradition.’
Now that he owns the Inglenook name, the
project has shifted a gear. He has hired Philippe
Left: from the start, Coppola knew he had good land when
he bought the first tranche of the Inglenook estate in 1975
‘I’m not here to
make a miniMargaux. It’s
important that I
make these wines
from the vineyards, not from a
preconceived idea in my head’
Philippe Bascaules (above)
Bascaules, winemaker at Château Margaux for 21
years, as his managing director. Another
Frenchman, Stéphane Derenoncourt, has been
consulting for some years and will continue to
advise, while on the board Coppola has Craig
Williams, the veteran Phelps winemaker, ‘to give
them some feeling of Napa’. Bascaules had been in
the job precisely three weeks when I visited, but it’s
obvious that the two concur about the direction the
estate should take. They feel the same about
irrigation, for example, which Bascaules says ‘we
have to be very careful with’.
The first vintage of the newly named wine will
be the 2009, in an elegant Bordeaux bottle that will
replace the heavy, embossed Rubicon bottle, and a
label inspired by an original from the 1940s. As to
style, Coppola says he wants to head more towards
how his 2010 is now tasting, as ‘it has this blend of
femininity and power, freshness and elegance’.
So how does he deal with jibes that he wants to
produce what one critic called ‘a Frenchified
Californian first growth’ – especially now that he’s
got a brace of Frenchmen on board? Coppola insists
he wasn’t specifically looking for a Frenchman:
Bascaules was simply the best man for the job.
Bascaules chips in. ‘I’m not here to make a
mini-Margaux’, he says. ‘It’s important that I make
these wines from the vineyards, not from a
preconceived idea in my head. My job is to
understand the terroir and then use meticulous
➢
Inglenook: a timeline (continued…)
1965
1970
New owners
streamline the
production process,
contrary to their
promise to Daniel
1975
Daniel dies. Convinced
that winemaking is not
a suitable career for
her two daughters, his
wife sells the estate
1969
Heublein buys 82%
of United Vintners
and, in the
process, acquires
Inglenook
1972
Francis Ford Coppola, looking for a small family property, visits
and falls in love with the estate. A consortium of developers
successfully bid for Inglenook at auction, intending to replace
the vineyards with a golf course and build houses on Mount
St John. The Land Trust of Napa County rejects their plans
48 | F e b r u a r y 2012 • D E C A N T E R
1995
Francis & Eleanor
Coppola buy 631ha of
the Inglenook Estate
with the proceeds from
The Godfather films
With the profits from Bram Stoker’s
Dracula, the Coppolas buy the vineyards
to the front of the property as well as the
iconic chateau. This reunites the estate and
its chateau for the first time in 30 years
1978
The first harvest of NiebaumCoppola’s wine – a Bordeauxstyle blend. The wine is made
in the cellars of the original
winery on the back property
2002
Coppola buys the JJ Cohn
property on the southern
edge of the estate.
Winemaking returns to the
chateau after 36 years
2000
Blancaneaux, the flagship
white wine (named after
Coppola’s resort in
Belize) is launched with
the 1999 vintage
2003
Coppola realises
Niebaum’s dream, by
successfully carving
cellars under the hill
behind the chateau
2006
The name of the
winery is changed
from NiebaumCoppola Estate to
Rubicon Estate
2011
Coppola finally secures the rights
to the Inglenook name and the
use of the chateau image. The
Inglenook estate is complete for
the first time since 1964
D E C A N T E R • F e b r u a r y 2012 | 49
INGLENOOK
Above: in a nod to the great Inglenooks of old, Coppola’s first vintage under the ‘new’ name, the 2009, will feature a label inspired by the original design
selection and careful vinification to extract the best
possible wines from the estate.’
Lasting legacy
Inglenook seems to be in good hands. Coppola says
his role as owner is ‘to make sure the property can
realise its full potential. My goal is to understand
the vineyard, and to ultimately provide the ability
for Philippe to create a new winery, supplementing
the antique château winery, where we can bring in
260 acres (105ha) of fruit, and put it in individual
fermenters. I want to learn about not just the parcels
that are vinified, but the areas within those parcels.’
Bascaules mentions the geological survey they
have underway, ‘to study the parcel limitations, as
some of them may be sub-divided in the future.
This parcel-by-parcel analysis will give me the
lexicon I need for the future, to truly understand
the Inglenook terroir. But I’m already starting to
appreciate the enormous potential of the estate.’
What comes across is Coppola’s utter confidence.
He knew the ‘absolute rightness’ of the decision to
spend $14m (or thereabouts) on the name. He’s
quite sure that he can restore the devalued brand to
its rightful position. ‘Those who appreciate
Inglenook’s greatness have no knowledge of the
cheap spinoff wines.’ If you build it, they will come.
50 | F e b r u a r y 2012 • D E C A N T E R
‘We know Inglenook made great wine 50 years
ago, and we know it made great wine 100 years
ago. So the aim is to make sure we follow in that
tradition’ Francis Ford Coppola
Throughout the day, Coppola returned again and
again to the theme of preservation and legacy. His
children – Roman, and the Oscar-winning Sofia –
together with his granddaughter, Gia, will take over
the winery when he is gone, he says. Roman, ‘whose
tendency is to hang on to the things he loves and
value them’ will be nominally in charge. Coppola
says there are no debts on the property.
So the future of Inglenook is assured. Coppola
has atoned for the sins of the corporations that
desecrated its name, and for his own sin of
commercialisation. He’s doing it for the
unsentimental idea that it’s something worth
preserving. And the most touching thing about the
whole business is that he – the great director – still
can’t quite believe it. ‘How could a guy like me,
from a lower-middle-class family from Queens, end
up owning America’s greatest wine estate?’ D
Adam Lechmere is news
editor for Decanter and
Decanter.com