The Coppola Wine Tasting & Movie Event

The Francis Ford Coppola Winery held a wine tasting event on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at the Rosebud Cinema and Drafthouse. It was sponsored by Rays Wine and Spirits in Wauwatosa, WI.

The event featured 25 wines for sample, appetizers from Juniper 61 & The Godfather playing on the big screen. The movie played with just the soundtrack playing, no dialogue to consume your attention or distract from the tasting.

I focused my tasting effort on red wine, targeting a few specific wines of interest. There was really no need to waste time on a Rose', I was not going to purchase one in this lifetime.

The wine of the tasting in my opinion was the Zinfandel "Edizione Pennino" Napa Valley. I had sampled a few other wines prior to this and a few after, but this was the wine I will remember from the tasting.

The Edizione Pennino Zinfandel pays tribute to Francis Ford Coppola's maternal grandfather, Francesco Pennino. Born in Italy, Francesco emigrated to the United States as a young man and started a music publishing and import company known as "Edizione Pennino." The company's logo depicted two images: the last view of Francesco's homeland, the Bay of Naples, and his first view of America, the Statue of Liberty. Francis Ford Coppola took the design in its original form and used it to identify the estate Zinfandel which, like Francesco Pennino's journey, is the grape most identified with the Italian influence on the California wine industry. To add to the nostalgia, each vintage bottling has one of Pennino's song titles imprinted on the cork.

Color: Deep purple, Ink.

Nose: Completely in your face, rich blackberry-cranberry-pepper spice.

Structure: A complete full body, chunky mouth feel, not syrup.

Attack: Again, completely in your face with a bit of heat, strong attack of the mouth.

Finish: This wine lingered for about 15 to 20 seconds without an after burn, just a pleasant reminder.

Overall: I really enjoyed this wine and imagined it with many different food parings. At around $50 a bottle, it is out of the range I personally like to spend on wine. As a special occasion wine I can see this being a wine to consider, but then again there are many others also.