Inglenook Wine Dinner with winemaker Philippe Bascaules at Cafe Maxx

"A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry." Ecclesiastes 10:19

We are trying to make everyone in South Florida a little more merry with an incredible line-up of wine tastings and the week of January 23rd starts out with Paul Hobbs at Scarpetta Restaurant and as I like to say this job just keeps getting better as we have Philippe Bascaules formerly from Chateau Margaux and now at Inglenook winery the next evening at Café Maxx. To finish off the month we are hosting a 1961 vintage Bordeaux tasting on Friday January 27th that will rival any Bordeaux event we have ever hosted!!

The 2017 Vintage is starting out with some amazing events, an incredible line-up of winemaker celebrities are in town to promote their new releases in January, February and March so keep an eye on the calendar of events at www.winewatch.com for a complete line-up of wine events coming up.

Inglenook Wine Dinner with winemaker Philippe Bascaules
January 24, 2017
7pm

Menu

Amuse Bouche

Guava glazed grilled shrimp

Papaya sea scallop ceviche

Inglenook Sauvignon Blanc Napa 2014
Price: $37.50 Sale $33.00 Case $383

The Inglenook Estate, best known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, has always grown small amounts of white varietals used primarily to craft Blancaneaux, our flagship white wine. In 2011, we grafted some Sauvignon Blanc onto a selection of Petite Sirah vines after experiments revealed that one of our vineyard lots was able to produce a Sauvignon Blanc with unique floral characteristics. This is our second year producing this wine.

First course
Lobster ravioli, goat cheese sauce, vegetable linguini

Blancaneaux ‘White Rhone Blend' Rutherford 2014
Price: $49.50 Sale $43.56 Case $505

235 acres planted, only 8.5 acres of these Rhone whites, a blend of 36% Marsanne 40% Rousanne and 30% Viognier. They have been making this wine for almost 10 years now, this wine has a very bright and focused bouquet lemon curd, quince and green melon fruit, lemon blossom and a distinct almost parmesan cheese like component. A nice amount of minerality on the tongue with that light tree fruit, white floral notes and that distinct minerality through the finish. finish 45+ Excellent

Second Course
Peppercorn & juniper smoked elk Carpaccio, black currant glaze, shaved Manchego
petite arugula, basil, chive and extra virgin

Inglenook Zinfandel Rutherford Edizione Pennino 2013
Price: $52.50 Sale $46.20 Case $536

Black raspberry coulis like fruit on the nose, a bit of Petite Sirah in the blend here, red licorice spice and pretty floral notes. A very smooth and balanced style of Zinfandel with a nice freshness and balance through the finish. Finish 35+ Excellent

Third course
Wagu beef short rib, mascarpone new potatoes, mixed berry demi glace
Grilled zucchini and pearl onions

Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon Napa 2012
Price: $52.50 Sale $46.20 Case $536

This wine was first released in 1949 and Francis Ford Coppola is bringing Inglenook back, a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Merlot this wine has a beautiful bouquet of dark currant and cassis berry fruit with lots of dark spices , tobacco and loamy earth a bit of that Rutherford dust. A big and chewy wine with lots of ripe berry and currant fruit, this wine has ripe round taninns, very smooth and quite drinkable on the second day, these 2012 are balanced and although drinkable right now should age very nicely. Finish 45+ Excellent +

Fourth course
Roast rack of lamb & parmesan gremolata, blue cheese au gratin potatoes
heirloom carrots, porcini and red wine sauce

Inglenook Rubicon Napa 2012
Price: $201.00 Your Price: $176.88 Case $2051

A blend of 86% cabernet sauvignon, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Merlot in the blend, 100% French Oak 75% new with a full bouquet of dark currant and cassis berry fruit, a host of dark earth, spices and mocha notes, very well endowed bouquet of aromas, very complex bouquet. A very rich and layered wine on the tongue with wonderful balance and depth of flavors, this wine has everything in proportion with a long finish, needs some time, has nice earth and minerality on the finish. finish 50+ 7500 cases produced. Most Excellent +

Dessert
Almond macaroon philo purse over red wine and coffee ganache

Ingelnook RC 'Roman Coppla' Syrah 2013
Price: $67.50 Sale $59.40 Case $689

Roman Coppola, a Syrah aficionado fond of both the Australian heavyweights as well as the more pedigreed Syrah-based wines from the Northern Rhone, worked with the Inglenook winemaking team to create an estate Syrah that combined the nuance and texture of ‘old world’ Syrah with the powerful fruit of ‘new world’ Syrah. Although Inglenook is primarily planted to Cabernet, Rutherford’s temperate climate, alluvial soils and eastern exposure where our Syrah vines are planted offer envious conditions for producing a rich, opulent wine.

There are only 25 seats available for this event and dinner is $155+ tax + gratuity, for reservations call 954-782-0606.

A bit about our host Philippe Bascaules:

Personally chosen by Francis Ford Coppola, renowned French winemaker Philippe Bascaules came to Napa from Bordeaux in 2011 to become General Manager of the great American wine estate, Inglenook.

Born and bred in the South-West of France, Bascaules was a gifted student with a love of nature that ultimately inspired his passion for œnology. In 1990, after receiving a degree in Agricultural Engineering, with a specialty in œnology, from Montpellier University in France, Bascaules began his career as assistant to the Estate Director at the legendary Château Margaux, one of France’s five First Growth Bordeaux estates. Bascaules became Estate Director in 2000, overseeing viticulture and vinification and working alongside renowned General Manager, Paul Pontallier.

Bascaules’ experience of making some of the world’s most critically acclaimed wines has taught him the importance of respecting the heritage of a great ‘terroir.' His philosophy is unassuming and clear-cut: “I prefer to know, rather than believe. I am not here to make changes just for the sake of it; I want to know that any changes I implement will improve the wine. Everything is a question of balance, but preserving elegance is essential. In my opinion, a 'grand vin' should be more than just sensational, it should also evoke emotion.”

At Inglenook, Bascaules now leads a team of talented winemaking professionals dedicated to Coppola’s vision of making Inglenook the finest New World estate wine produced in the Old World style. In 1890, founder Gustave Niebaum stated that Inglenook would one day “produce the finest wines, to equal and excel the most famous vintages of Europe.” Over a century later, Coppola and Bascaules proudly continue the Inglenook legacy.

A little history of Inglenook:

The Godfather made Francis Ford Coppola a household name, and long before it was “cool” for celebrities to be in the wine business, Francis and his wife Eleanor were perusing Napa Valley looking for a summer cottage and an acre of vineyard to make some wine for home consumption. The year was 1972, was still on the horizon and the Coppola’s summer home turned into a stunning Victorian mansion on an enormous vineyard. Coppola remembers, “It was like a ‘A Place in the Sun’, with rich people sitting around the pool and a Mercedes out front. To anyone not raised with these things it was unbelievable. This was what everyone considered the queen of Napa Valley: perhaps the great American château!”

The estate Coppola bought was made famous by Gustave Niebaum, a Finnish sea captain who sailed through the Golden Gate in the late 1870s with $600,000 worth of Alaskan seal pelts. In those days that much money entitled a man to pretty much whatever he wanted. In 1879 Niebaurn bought a Mayacamas mountainside and its rolling foothill vineyards, situated on a gravelly out-crop. He christened this cozy, tucked-away property, first planted in 1872- Inglenook. Former winemaker Scott McLeod seems to think that Mr. Niebaum may have actually known what he was doing. “Niebaurn knew what he was doing," says McLeod. "The soil here is deep, but not rich by any means. It has layers and layers of gravel from Bear Creek- which has meandered all over the property since prehistoric times, plus volcanic soil from ancient eruptions of Mount St. John. "'The vineyard is ninety feet above the river, so it's out of both the floodplains and the majority of the frost, which sinks to the lowlands. It's on the west side of the valley, which has cooler afternoons. And a man could work it with just a horse and plow. Technology has opened up terrain that is not intrinsically suited to vineyards, like heavy clay soils or rugged mountains, but here we have natural vineyard land."

It took several years and several twists of fate before Coppola gained control of most of the property. In 1975, the year after the release of two of his greatest movies, The Conversation and The Godfather Part II. The front 72 acres of the property, which contained Niebaum's old Inglenook winery building, a major tourist attraction, remained the possession of Coppola's corporate neighbor Heublein, as did the much abused Inglenook brand name. But the heart and soul of the old estate some 1,550-acres belonged to Coppola. He restored the grand Victorian house, the vineyards, even dammed and refilled a mountain lake that was by then remembered only in 19th-century paintings. His home-winemaking dream began to metamorphose, as dreams will with Coppola, assuming an old-world grandeur and glow. And now he wanted a winery of his own. "It's as if your great aunt had left you a thoroughbred racehorse," he says. "It'd be a real shame not to race it." In conscious emulation of the Bordeaux tradition, a la Lafite-Rothschild, he appended his name to that of the original owner, rechristening the estate Niebaum-Coppola.

Coppola would not make a fruity, perfumy wine with immediate appeal, he wanted to make wines that would endure and last for a century, like the wines that Inglenook had made back in the 1890’s. His initial releases brooded with tannins and were very harsh in their youth. Believing it would take several years for his wines to be ready, he held back his wines an extra year or two before releasing them. Coppola was making a statement, thus the wine’s name- “Rubicon”. “Rubicon was boutique all the way”, says Coppola. “It was so boutique that I walked into Tiffany, to the engraving department, and I asked them to make me a wine label. And they said, ‘Oh no, Mr. Coppola, we couldn’t possibly- we make only stationary and invitations.’ So I said, ‘Okay, then make me some wedding invitations that say Niebaum-Coppola, Rubicon 1978.’ And sure enough, they arrived in these little blue boxes with little satin ribbons tied around them.”

Unfortunately, bitter days lay ahead, as Coppola tied his personal fortune to Apocalypse Now. The brooding Vietnam-era jungle spectacular, which was nearly as epic in its undertaking as in its final presentation, almost ruined him financially. Hearts of Darkness, the film about the making of Apocalypse Now, by Coppola's wife, Eleanor, shows him as a man dogged by setbacks and a strong sense of failure but refusing to cut his losses. Coppola makes pasta and blares La Bohème as a typhoon floods the downstairs rooms of their house on location in the Philippines. As discouragement after discouragement threatened to tip his sanity, he found the Napa estate a refuge. "A really beautiful memory was when I was working on Apocalypse Now, after we had been struck by the typhoon and had to stop for six weeks. I remember driving up the road here and seeing the house from a distance, because it has this beautiful veranda around it, and it was all lit up, glowing like a jewel box in the night! And I had just come in from the jungle. Robert Mondavi came to dinner that night and Mike Grgich (of Grgich Hills) and all these wine people. It was my first taste of feeling like a padrone." But the feeling was fleeting. Cost over runs from Apocalypse Now led Coppola's film company to seek Chapter 11 protection in 1982.

Today the estate and the Inglenook name belongs to the Coppola family, lock, stock and barrel. The wines are made in an unassuming frame building trimmed with Victorian gingerbread and housing real bats in the belfry. Gustave Niebaum built this prototype winery before he erected the Inglenook château down the road. In 1995, Niebaum-Coppola acquired the remainder of the property and restored the Inglenook estate to its original historic dimension.

In 2011 the circle is completed when Francis and Eleanor Coppola acquire the iconic Inglenook trademark and announce the estate will once again be known by its historical name, Inglenook. Coppola appoints Philippe Bascaules, formerly of Chateaux Margaux in France, as General Manager. He inherits a 130-year-old dream, shared by Niebaum, John Daniel, Jr. and Coppola, to produce wines at Inglenook that rival the best in Europe.

Also available:

INGLENOOK RUBICON 2010
Price: $210.00 Sale $184.80

INGLENOOK RUBICON 2012 Magnum
Price: $450.00 Sale $396