Francis Coppola, Zinfandel Red Label Diamond Collection, 2019, Kalifornien

Wine-growing estate: The well-known director Francis Ford Coppola bought a part of the formerly world-famous Inglenook Estate in the Napa Valley in 1979, founded 100 years before by the Finnish captain Niebaum. This had got too small now so that he only produces the flagship wines there. For the other wines he purchased the former chateau sovereign in the Sonoma Valley in 2007 to give them a durable home. The wines are anything but superficial Hollywood asterisks. They have a quite personal note, are full-bodied, perfectly balanced and long lasting.

Vineyard: The grapes are from different vineyards in outstanding Zinfandel cultivable areas; so a unique and complex wine arises with personality and dimension. Hog's canyon lies in Paso Robles where hot summer temperatures and thick clay soils produce grapes of unbelievable concentration. At the other end of the Appellation lies a vineyard whose ground consist of a granular pebble clay soil, similarly to the Barossa Valley. The vineyards in the Sonoma County deliver exceptionally high-quality fruit which matures evenly and gives the wine character and fragrance variety. To achieve even further complexity, a share Petite Sirah is added.
The grapes are from the Hames Valley AVA in the south of the Monterey County, where the temperatures increase to 37 degrees during the day and fall to 7 degrees at night. Most grapes would have a problem with these differences in temperature but heat and intensive sun let develop Petite Sirah in the peel firm colour and tannins which function as a natural barrier against sunburn.

Vinification: The wine was aged in barriques.