2003 Niebaum-Coppola Directors Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery is a historic, 190-acre estate in Rutherford, in California’s Napa Valley which, since 2006, has reverted to its 19th century name, Inglenook. The estate was founded in 1879 by a sea captain named Gustave Niebaum, who called his estate Inglenook and dreamed of making European-quality wine. Inglenook wines became a benchmark for the young California wine industry in the early 20th century. In 1975 filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and his wife bought Niebaum’s home, and in 1995 they bought the Inglenook chateau and 80 acres of vineyards. In 2011 the Coppola’s bought the Inglenook trademark and have begun calling the estate by its historic name of Inglenook. Niebaum-Coppola makes several labels and much of their wine is made from purchased grapes. The flagship wine is Rubicon, a Cabernet Sauvignon blend. The estate also makes Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and a white Rhone-style blend.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.