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20 reviews for Francis Coppola Winery
Decent place, as people have said still under construction hence very reasonably priced. The tastings were pretty pedestrian, mostly stuff you can get at your LWS, but its a fun place and since we were really only planning on doing lunch here (very decent pizzas) the tastings were more of an added bonus rather than something we had been anticipating.
The staff is nice, and the plans up everywhere showing what it will eventually look like are stunning. Coppola's spot in Rutherford (Rubicon) is gorgeous and more upscale, while it seems Rosso Bianco will be a little more laid back and casual (more Sonoma, I guess you could say).
Definitely a cool spot and a place to keep your eye on as the dust settles...
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"A boy and his bride went back to Souverain, because they missed the scenery, the honeymoon memories, the wonderful food and wine, and the quiet charming elegance of the hilltop chateaus...but wait a minute, something blows...
HEY MAMBO, MAMBO ITALIANO..."
That's what my wife and I were treated to on our 5th anniversary, sitting at the tacky pizza-joint patio tables with their red-and-white checkered cloths, their mediocre food...and, yes, Rosemary Clooney blaring out over the loudspeaker--on repeat-play, no less.
Out with the Souverain label, in with the lower tier Coppola wines. Out with the tastes and temptations, in with tawdriness and garish marketing. "Wine Disneyland" is an apt description: This place seems only tangentially about wine, and principally about a[nother] futile attempt to contain Francis Ford Coppola's gigantic ego within a set of walls.
When we visited, he'd recently closed escrow and thrown himself a "move-in party", at which his classless guests covered the interior walls with sycophantic graffiti in black marker. Two years later, the architectural rape is well underway, the classic slate mansard roofline giving way to a misbegotten mashup of Giza pyramid, alpine chalet, and circus tent, capped with a Eye-of-Sauron skylight in lurid red (it was that color in the brochure we picked up, at any rate)
It is possible you will take this desecration of a once-beloved place a bit less personally than we did, and maybe even enjoy yourselves--but to me, it will always be a blight and a travesty. Ugh.
Me = Tourist
Winery = Trap
Yep, I didn't expect anything less, but at least at the other Coppola winery, Rubicon, you get to see a mini movie museum.
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My review is going to be a bit biased. My friend is the head chef at the cafe there, so she hooked us up with a private tour of the winery, including special tastings, barrel tastings, and a whole tour of how the make, age, store, bottle the wines. The tour itself was nearly 1.5 hours! The guide was fantastic and very easy to talk to.
After the tasting, we had a great lunch outside on the patio, overlooking the winery and the hills of Sonoma County. It was a rare, beautiful November day. Food was great, special because it was the work of a friend. Casual entrees (pizza, salads, pasta). Of course, their wines are fantastic.
After lunch, we had more tastings in their tasting room, free of charge. We left a little tipsy and with a trunk full of wine and pasta sauce.
This winery is going through a slow renovation. Mr. Coppola is updating the entry area with memoriabilia from his family films. As well, the whole place will have a new face lift, outdoor auditorium area, and new restaurant. Can't wait to see it in a few years.
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When Mr. Coppola purchased this property, his goal was to create a family-oriented, casual winery where he could share all of his passions with others. Food, movies, wines, travel, entertainment, he does it all and with passion. If you take a tour of the property and learn of his history, you will find that he is much more than a hollywood producer dabbling in wine. He is serious about wine, and the many pleasures it provides.
With that said, this winery is a work in progress. Give it a couple of years, and it will be amazing. The restaurant has a new chef, and a completely new menu that is actually very good - I have eaten there a few times.
If you haven't visited on a Friday evening for their Neighbor's Market, give it a try! Wine by the glass, authentic Neapolitan pizzas, local growers featuring their products, it's great. For those that feel this is a wine-country Disneyland, I see it another way. This will be a place that families can visit and not feel like they have to leave their children at home. It will bring much deserved attention and business to the Alexander Valley, as well as support local agriculture which is extremely important.
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Currently under construction, but if it is close to what they are saying it will be, then the site will be amazing in 2 years!
Try the Sophia Sparkling Wine in a CAN!
It's the old Chateau Souverain. Wonderful location on a hill that looks down a scenic piece of the Alexander Valley.
The restaurant is really just an Italian food cafe. The menu is a few salads, a soup of the day, a few pizzas, several desserts. Bambie & me ate a relaxed lunch. We drank a couple glasses of the lower priced Coppola wines. The wines are actually pretty good. The few that we tried are a BIG improvement over the wines made in the final years that Chateau Soverain was in business.
The gift shop wine tasting room charges $10 for the lower level wines & $15 to taste the higher priced vintages. The tasting fee is waived if you ate in the cafe first.
A fun, pretty & casual place to spend an hour or two.
Under construction, staff in training, if it ends up to be anything like Rubicon it'll be a gem. Looking forward to doing a follow up review in the coming years. As a wine club member I've been impressed with the shipments.
Comment from Nick A. of
Francis Coppola Winery
5/13/2009
Thank you CJ! We are extremely excited about the…
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This winery location has the most beautiful views without all the crowds!
Go there for lunch, the pizza is fantastic plus you can sit outside on the patio and enjoy the scenery. A+ for making he very happy.
Ok, so I am a little biased writing this as I used to work for the whole FFC Presents Company, but this winery will be something great in the years to come.
Just a friendly message: Don't rag on the winery. FFC bought it "as-is" and it's a work in progress. The new Director's Cut wines that will be released in 2007 are amazing. I got to sample the barrels this past weekend and wow, keep an eye out for the Cab Sav in July '07 as it has to age 10 more months, it was fabulous, and drinkable now!
Robert was my tour guide, and he was very knowledgeable and great to share his personal wine expertise with us. The grounds are lovely and promising, and knowing FFC, great things will happen in the future here. Stay tuned...
"its a sleeper". this place is committed to improving.
Agreed, this is not going to be the best tasting that you do in the area, BUT its a beautiful estate, and wines and tastings are reasonably priced. When I went, I had a day of mediocre tasting in sopnoma, and on a relative basis I was thrilled with this place.
the Sofia sparkling blanc de blancs is great - about $18 btl, and actually, I like the diamond collection (the lowest grade) syrah-syrah quite a bit for about $13. The reserve pinor noir is also quite tasty.
I joined the club here based upon the price of the wine, and the fact that you feel like you are getting in on the floor of something that is going to be big. Coppola is really devoted to making some great wine here. They also value members - with lots of events and a huge 30% discount (standard napa discount is around %15).
While people have bashed this place for the service, I find its no different than most - if the place is busy, your screwed - if not, your golden. Its very rare that someliers are rude if they are not busy - its a sweet job....I actually tipped the guy here - an extreme rarity.
Haven't actually been in since it changed ownership, although I had an inside friend who stopped working here because of the changes. Chateau Souverain had exceptional food, service, and a nice atmosphere. Coppola's changes seem to have made this place turn into a kind of wine disneyland - even the sign out front is comical. I've heard from numerous people that the food is not worth the price and that the service is terrible now. Not really sure why this place is around.
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The grounds were beautiful and lunch was delicious. Service was sllllllllllllllllllllllllllow as all hell.
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What a travesty! Mr. Coppola bought the site of a great winery (Chateau Souverain) and is turning it into a wine-country Disneyland. The former outstanding restaurant has lost its chef of 15 years and now serves a buffet style salad bar and pizza. The tasting room now pours Coppola's "Diamond Series" wines (his lowest tier) that you can find at Trader Joe's and Safeway. The building is filled with tacky "Italian themed" items for sale, flipping some items over revealed a "Made in China" sticker. This is still a beautiful location but it is occupied by the wrong company.
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This location used to be one of my favorite wineries (Chateau Souverain) and now it has become an uppity view location with so-so wines and crap goods. None of the wines were impressive. The only thing that kept me from giving this one star due to the EXTREMELY RUDE and INATTENTIVE pourers were the pleasantly delicious risotto with peas and the out of this world sausage polenta.
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So, I've visited both the Rubicon, Francis Coppola's first winery, and this place. Both were enjoyable for different reasons.
Here's what we liked here:
-Reasonable tasting fees ($10 or $15)
-Can sit outside or inside at the bar
-Can eat at the same time. (We ordered pizza!)
-Has a casual and 'take your time' kind of vibe
-Has Coppola's movie stuff
-The staff shared their knowledge about his movie stuff
-gorgeous grounds
-the staff was totally accommodating and took our photos.
We liked some of their wines but not others. The Sophia Bianca was popular. Another friend bought 4 bottles of other ones.
Some minor caveats:
-The complex will be under construction until 2009 but that didn't distract or affect our experience
-The tasting bar is MUCH smaller than the Rubicon. It fills up quickly with guests and the staff is small. We just relaxed and waited our turn.
-because the bar fills up quickly, it'll help you if your group can just sit in one place and have one bill. Our group was fragmented and there was a mistake made on our bill.
-The staff didn't know how to correct the billing mistake so they reduced the cost of something we bought by the same amount.
I'll admit, this was my first time going wine tasting so i don't have much to compare it to, but I really liked this winery. I thought it was beautiful and the wines we tasted were all pretty nice. I also liked that they had the Coppola marinara sauce and a couple of the olive oils available to sample and I agree that the outdoor terrace had great views and was a great addition to the winery.
We had not expected the Francis Coppola winery to be right on 101 hence we ventured in. Expect the unexpected at the new Francis Ford Coppola (yet unnamed) winery in Alexander Valley. It's a "work in progress," and they had just established this new grounds in March this year. Beautiful setting with lunch service everyday and very prominent buildings and rolling grounds. Definitely a great settings for an afternoon break from all the tasting. :)
Look, we didn't even taste the wines but we had fun poking around. I know that sounds crazy but we ended up smoking a cigar and checking out the display of Francis's Oscars and buying some delicious herbed olive oil. Ok fine, by this time we were a little tipsy and we decided a break from the wine would be best. But we really enjoyed this spot ... the tobacco, the vistas, the souvies ... give it a whirl, I am sure the wine is good.
Opulent winery in the old Chateau Souverain piece of real estate. Tasting room, gift shop, and a yet "unnamed" cafe. Check out Coppola's Oscars in the glass shelf. They have 2 tours a day, 12:30 and 2:30pm. Call to verify tour times. In September, they have special Harvest Tours. Also, major renovations and additions will be on the way for the winery. Looking forward to it!
