Lists seem to be big on Facebook and elsewhere these days. So here are five things I learned on a visit to Rubicon Estates, Francis Ford Coppola’s Napa winery:

1. The main reason Rutherford cabernets have a “dusty” quality is that the soil is very gravelly. After a downpour Monday, the ground was stunningly dry.

2. A 1947  Tucker looks even better in person than it did on the big screen in Coppola’s film about the misbegotten automobile.

3. The old Inglenook winery was named after the Scottish word for a cozy spot near a hearth.

4. Coppola, whose father was first flautist of the Detroit Symphony, got his middle name was in honor of the orchestra’s prime patron, Henry Ford.

5. The Bordeaux blend known simply as Rubicon is one of the very best California wines I’ve tasted of late, intense but elegant, multi-layered but smooth. Â

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.