A Couple of Coppola’s

If Paul Newman, R.I.P., can do salad dressing, Francis Ford Coppola should be able to do wine, right? Well if you’ve ever wandered the aisles at your local wine store, you have probably stumbled across—sitting adjacent to Greg Norman’s latest vintage—a selection of bottles from Francis Ford Coppola Presents Rosso & Bianco winery in Sonoma, CA. Wine is just one of the many products Coppola has fixed his name to throughout his continuing transformation from a person to a brand.

Until recently, I have never paid too much attention to Coppola’s wines (for no particular reason). I’ve tried a couple of bottles in the past without any significant memories to recall. His selection ranges across the price spectrum from the low teens up to collector prices.

Recently, I crossed paths with a deal I couldn’t refuse and purchased a few bottles for casual drinking. Both the 2006 Green Label syrah-shiraz and the 2006 Red Label zinfandel, both from the Diamond Collection series, typically retail for $17; I found them for close to $10, a deal that turned out to be fortunate—for both bottles.

The first one I tried was the syrah-shiraz, which blends 93% syrah with 7% petite shiraz and achieves a complex wine I will seek out again. I like the way it sits in the mouth; it is very balanced, and there is some weight to it, but the flavors are very smooth and subtle, even muted, until I begin to swallow and let air rush into my mouth.

And as the flavors continue to release well after the wine is swallowed, the mouth fills with flavors that are not only spicy but are also filled with an exciting blend of dark fruits, hints of chocolate, and mellow oak tones. I can imagine a steak lover finding this wine as pleasing as I do, but I also think that this wine and a chunk of Humboldt Fog could do marvelous things.

The zinfandel turned out to be a nice bottle as well, but for the normal retail price, I think there are plenty of other zinfandels worth investigating. Similar to the syrah, the zinfandel is a 95/5 blend that uses a small amount of petite sirah to develop the character of the wine. It also had that very pleasant mouth feel that the syrah did, but I am not as enthusiastic with its finish. The berry tones in the flavor rush tended to be a bit too sweet for my taste, and it overpowered the spice notes that I anticipate with a nice zinfandel. I prefer the fruit to be a bit more subtle and developed.

All in all, my Coppola tasting turned out to be an enjoyable experience. The sale I found basically was better than buy-2-get-1-free, and it gave me a look at a couple of wines that I ordinarily had neglected to notice. I am looking forward to another syrah-shiraz in the not-too-distant-future, but as for the zinfandel, I shall continue searching for that perfect bottle. Cheers.

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