Inglenook - Rutherford

Beautiful winery with well-trained staff, thanks to Stephanie! Highly recommended.

The wine tasting was conducted very thoroughly and professionally, and it was highly informative. The four wines sampled were excellent.

The restaurant features beautiful, spacious rooms, all with indoor seating. The staff is friendly, and the location is excellent. Their dishes are fantastic, and I had the best night's sleep there. They offer made-to-order breakfast omelets, and during happy hour, you can enjoy wine, mixed drinks, along with cheese and sweet treats.

If you are visiting Napa, there are a number of iconic vineyards that need to be on your list and Francis Ford Coppola's Inglenook is one of them. This historic winery and estate is overwhelmingly beautiful. This winery was not on our list, however the General Manager of our hotel, Rancho Caymus, insisted that we go and even made our reservation. We are thrilled that he did.Rather than having a formal tasting we opted to buy a full glass of the award winning Rubicon. A decision that would later empty our wallets because one glass was not enough and bottles were ordered and shipped home.Marcus, our Som, was so friendly he took some time to give us a personalized tour of the grounds, glass in hand pointing out and sharing his knowledge of the estate from the architecture to the wine making process.Book your tickets in advance as they do sell out.

I cannot say enough great things about Inglenook. I think my wife would agree that I am pretty obsessed with this winery. So lets get one thing out of the way real quick. I know the tastings here can be expensive. Honestly, I had never officially done a tasting here until I became a wine club member and I don't think I would have ever needed to. Why, you might ask. Let me just sum up what I love about Inglenook in as few bullets as possible. 1. The Bistro You can come to the bistro and order wines by the glass, coffee, snacks or even cigars. In the summer and I'm told through to Halloween the bistro also sells lemon granitas slushies that they float Zinfandel over. This is a must try. Before COVID, visiting the Bistro was a cinch, but now you do have to call and make a reservation. 2. The Setting Once you get your glass at the Bistro, you are allowed to walk the grounds and take in just how beautiful this place is. From the beautiful vineyards framed by the pergolas outside the Chateau to the vines clinging to the stone walls of the building itself, to the regal interior, this place just exudes old world coolness. There is a small film and wine museum that showcases the history of the winery and the Coppola family, a gift shop that is definitely for high rollers wine steamer trunk anyone? but just fun to peruse and for younger members of the family they have a bocce court and boats that you can push around in their water fountain. At most I have seen maybe four or five groups at this winery including James Franco and his entourage at a time so you definitely feel like you have stumbled upon a hidden gem in the middle of Wine Country. 3. The Service I have visited this winery more than 10 times. I have brought all of my extended family here and my wife's extended family. I proposed to my wife here. This place holds a special place in my heart, not just because of the beautiful building or the cool bistro but mostly because I really like the people that work here. Everyone I have interacted with here is so kind and pleasant. I especially love the people that work the Bistro, they are hilarious and will be more than happy to tell you their own stories about the estate and let you try most of the wines so you can pick a glass that you like. Every person I have dealt with here from the reservationist to the tour guides have been awesome. This is the reason I keep coming back and this is the reason I became a wine member oh and when you become a wine club member they give you this snazzy key chain you can use to open the gate to the estate definite flex... Would highly recommend this winery!