Yes, He's a Good Director, But Can He Make Wine?

Apparently, he can.

I had the opportunity to go to a wine tasting at a fine store in my town, Main Street Wine & Spirits. There were many excellent wines to try, including three from Chateau St. Jean (a winery I mentioned in a earlier posting). The suprise of the night (for me anyway) were two wines I tried from Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard. I tried a 2003 Merlot and a 2004 Claret (pronounced - for those of you who mistakenly thought it was French - like "Clear - Ette"... as in "clear red" which is what the English originally called this wine). Bot wines had unusual aromas. The merlot smelled like an old leather armchair in a smoking club. The claret smelled like lavender packed in moth balls. These are not meant to be negative - the aromas were intesting and unusual and made me want to try the wines. Both wines were smooth and flavorful ... but very different. Which did I like best? Well, we bought a bottle of each, so I really can't say.

These were surprisingly good, reasonably priced wines -- worth buying, worth drinking. Don't do what I did, and avoid trying a wine because it's being made by a 'celebrity.' In this case, he deserves an Oscar.