The Director's Cut

We planned to drive on Highway 101 today, the wine road. Our first stop along the Russian River wine trail was a familiar one, the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. We'd visited it before and it never fails to please. Like Charles Shultz (of Peanuts cartoon fame) the famous cinema director chose to settle in this area and now lives in Nappa.

He purchased his winery a number of years ago and its a homage to his movies and a place that he set out to share with the general public. In fact, he has been making wine, longer than he's been making films! Who knew?! We arrived early and spent some time talking to a couple of girls who had travelled from San Francisco for the day. They had already booked to use the fabulous pool facility, there.

We took the guided tour, looked around the film memorabilia , which includes one of the forty seven cars made for the film 'Tucker'. Mr Coppola currently owns two of these, both licensed and in fully working road condition. The desk used in the Godfather is there, as is many of the props and costumes used in Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', and other award winning films.

We sampled some , Zindenfal, a Chardonnay, and with lunch, by the pool, a glass of Director's Cut Pinot Noir. a really nice way to spend a few hours. We left in the early afternoon and made our way to a smaller, picturesque winery close to Santa Rosa, "The Saint Francis Winery". We stayed long enough to take in the views and then drove on to the Ledsom Winery, with its fabulous gardens and European style chateau.

All in all, a nice way to spend the day.

The following track just seemed to fit in with day .... The Byrd's "Turn, Turn, Turn"