Bill Stoller and Sttoller Family Estate

The story of Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola’s stewardship of the Inglenook Estate has as much intrigue as the plots of his movies. Forty-two years on, it looks like the trajectory of the estate is toward a warm-and-fuzzy sort of happy ending. It feels appropriate for an estate named after the Scottish expression for “cozy corner”. Coppola never expected this kind of saga turned fairytale. After all, Coppola and his wife, Eleanor, were only looking for a country cottage. It was 1972, and the couple wanted a get-away from San Francisco. If their home-away-from-home had a few vines, maybe they would make wine like Coppola’s grandfather did in his basement. Their realtor insisted they take a rare peek inside the historic Niebaum home, up for sale for two years, even if just out of curiosity. Luckily the Coppolas had plenty of funds from Francis’ first two The Godfather movies, because they fell smitten. Unfortunately, a housing and golf course developer outbid them. Enter, stage left, the newly formed Land Trust of Napa County. It struck down the plans for fear of the land becoming a commuter village. The developer offered the property to the Coppolas, and they at last snapped up the house and the “back property” of the original Niebaum estate in 1975. The Coppolas instinctively knew their mission: to return the Inglenook estate into the world-class wine producer it was under the reigns of founder Gustave Niebaum then John Daniel, Sr. Driving up to the château today, you’d never guess all of the toil, passion and expense that went into revitalizing this historic property. The obsession with quality had been a focal point at Inglenook from the start. As John Daniel, Jr. wrote to his sister in March of 1942,“A reputation for quality is very difficult to build up, and once lost sometimes takes generations in the wine business to reclaim.” The Coppolas would have to reclaim much more than just the house and the “back property” to fully restore Inglenook. This is because Daniel, Sr. sold the front portion of the property and the château to the cooperative United Vintners in 1964. The cooperative ran quality into the ground while associating the Inglenook name with jug wine. Fortunately, the company decided to sell the vineyards and the château in 1995. Coppola acquired them. The wines continued to be produced under the Niebaum-Coppola label, a nod to the Bordelais tradition of combining prior and current owners’ names. It wasn’t until 2011 that Coppola acquired the rights to the Inglenook name and its iconic château image. Thanks to many turns of fate and the on-going devotion of the Coppolas, the Inglenook Estate sits fully reunited (and even expanded) in Rutherford, California in the heart of Napa Valley. Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson wrote in The World Atlas of Wine, “Rutherford is the Pauillac of California.” And indeed, the wine quality has been raised to be fitting of such a distinguished comparison, thanks especially to the presence of Philippe Bascaules – winemaker of Château Margaux for 21 years – for the last six years. Coppola chose the name “Rubicon”, as the name of his first commercialized wine. It is a reference to Caesar’s famous crossing of the Rubicon, a point of no return. This is an incredibly apt name for Coppola’s Inglenook project. So is another Caesar attribution, “Veni, vidi, vici.” 荷里活導演法蘭西斯・福特・哥普拉及他的Inglenook Estate的故事，就像他的電影一樣峰迴路轉。 四十二年來，酒莊的軌跡看起來正邁向溫暖而快樂的結局。Inglenook Estate 這名字在蘇格蘭語中是「舒適的角落」的意思。 哥普拉從來沒有想過這種傳奇變成童話。 畢竟，他和他的妻子伊莉諾原本只想尋找一間鄉村小屋。1972年這對夫婦想要離開舊金山。即使他們的家園外有些葡萄藤，他們或許只會像其祖父一樣在地下室釀造一些葡萄酒。 但他們的房地產經紀人堅持讓他們看看已放售兩年Niebaum的家。 幸運的是哥普拉夫婦從兩部教父電影中獲得足夠的資金；不幸的是住房和高爾夫球場已超出了他們的預算。新成立的納帕縣土地信託，改變了土地原本發展成的命運。 開發商向哥普拉出售物業，最終他們在1975年購入了Niebaum莊園及物業。 哥普拉斯本能地清楚他們的使命：帶領Inglenook重回世界級葡萄酒生產商的行列，就像昔日創始人Gustave Niebaum及其繼承者John Daniel時的光輝歲月。今天如果你有幸參觀他們的城堡，你不會猜想到風光背後的辛勞、激情和付出。 Inglenook的焦點一直在於酒質。正如John Daniel 1942年3月寫給他妹妹的信中提到︰「聲譽的建立十分艱難，而一旦失去了，可能花幾代人的努力才能重回軌道。」哥普拉必須做更多，才能夠完全恢復Inglenook昔日的繁榮。 這是因為Daniel, Sr 於1964年將財產和酒莊賣給了United Vintners合作社。合作社並不重視品質，甚至將Inglenook的名字與平價葡萄酒連結起來。 幸運的是，1995年合作社決定出售葡萄園及酒莊。哥普拉收購了它們，其所生產的葡萄酒續以Niebaum-Coppola為標籤——將以往和現有業主名稱相結合的做法，是Bordelais的傳統。直到2011年，哥普拉才獲得了Inglenook的名稱及其標誌性酒莊形象的權利。 憑藉哥普拉持續的熱忱加上一連串的緣份，Inglenook莊園在納帕谷心臟地帶Rutherford 重新累積實力，甚至擴展起來。 Jancis Robinson 及 Hugh Johnson曾在《世界葡萄酒圖集》中寫道：「Rutherford是加州的Pauillac。」這一區葡萄酒質量名副其實，特別是Philippe Bascaules的6年來的積極參與——他 曾在Margaux莊園工作達21年之久。 哥普拉選擇了「Rubicon」這名稱作為他第一個商業葡萄酒的名稱。 這是取名於著名的凱撒渡過Rubicon河的戰役，取其「破釜沈舟」之意；與他另一款酒的名字 「Veni, vidi, vici」一樣，都充分表達了酒莊背後的故事。

A boy from the northern Midwest USA grows up to be a rock star. That rock star becomes a winemaker. Wow! What luck! Wow – yes. What luck - to a degree. This is because the phenomenal transformation of James Maynard Keenan has been largely organic. Many brilliant business people figure out what others want then give it to them. Keenan figured out what he wanted, and it turned out other people wanted what he was eager to give. (And sure, he’s an entertainer willing to give to his crowd!) Whatever he is or was giving, what he has always set out to do was to give his absolute best. Furthermore, he insists he competes against himself rather than against others. This is the kind of mentality one must have to go from baby- and boy-hood in Ohio to young adulthood in Michigan to becoming so many other things in so many other places. Keenan joined the Army and was offered an opportunity to study at West Point. Instead, Keenan chose the art of voice. (In fact, he went into the military specifically to fund his art university ambitions via the G.I. Bill.) In time, Keenan fronted for the bands Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer – each time on the edge of self-inspection. Yet, Keenan is conscientious about releasing his lyrics. His concern is that not everyone will understand them. However, in the winemaking world, the parlance is easy. Fans like or don’t like the wines. I first tasted the Caduceus wines when I was opening a restaurant for Jean-Georges Vongerichten at The Phoenician in 2008, and I was blown away. Granted, at the time, many of the wines were made with fruit purchased outside Arizona, namely California. That is no longer the case, and I continue to exude over the wines. Additionally, Keenan has since learned that a great-grandfather owned vineyards and made wines in northern Italy’s Piedmont. Even more delightful, though long unbeknownst to Keenan, is that this family heritage wine was shadowing him. Keenan has long been devoted to Italian varieties in his Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars. If you’re enticed by Keenan’s unusual trajectory thus far, his influential music past or his determination to make Arizona’s best wines and bring them (like him) into the limelight, check out his book or audio book, A Perfect Union of Contradictory Things, released late fall. There’s much more to the story. This is only a portion of the exhilarating journey, and rest assured James Maynard Keenan is still on the road! As Rolling Stone magazine quote Keenan, “Even though this is a biography, I feel like it’s more of a map.” 美國中西部北部的一名男孩長大後成為搖滾明星，然後成為一位釀酒師。這是怎樣的運氣？ 事實上這樣的一個轉變，對於詹姆斯·梅納德·基南（James Maynard Keenan）來說，幾乎是自然發生的。 很多成功的商人可以預估到其他人的需要，然後滿足他們。基南卻是找到自己所愛，然後讓別人愛上他所愛的東西（當然，他是一個藝人，娛樂大眾是他的本能！）。無論他正在給予誰，他一直做的是給出他所能做最好的。 更重要的是，他堅持與自己競爭，而不是與其他人競爭。 從俄亥俄州長大，於密歇根州成長，然後在其他地方延續傳奇。基南後來加入了陸軍，並在西點軍校學習； 然而他卻選擇了聲音的藝術。（事實上他以G.I.Bill 獎學金進入西點軍校，以資助他讀藝術的心願。）同時，基南先後加入了Tool A Perfect Circle 以及Puscifer樂隊 ，認真地發表他的歌詞。他明白並不是每個人都會理解他們。 然而在釀酒世界中，喜惡較易分辨。酒粉們喜歡他的酒、或者不喜歡。 2008年，當我在The Phoenician為Jean-Georges Vongerichten開餐廳時，我品嚐過他的Caduceus葡萄酒，瞬間被感動了。 當時，許多葡萄酒都是採用亞利桑那州外(加州)的葡萄。 雖然現在情況已不一樣了，我還是喜歡他們的葡萄酒。 基南後來認識了一位在意大利北部皮埃蒙特釀造葡萄酒的祖父。也許他並不自覺，但是這位仁兄對他產生很大影響 —— 基南在他的Merkin葡萄園和Caduceus酒窖釀造起意大利葡萄品種。 如果你被基南的事跡吸引 —— 他具有影響力的音樂或他在亞利桑那州釀造最好的葡萄酒的決它，你可以去看看他在今秋將出版的書(或音頻書)「A Perfect Union of Contradictory Things」 。當然這只是他旅程的一部分，詹姆斯·梅納德·基南依然在探索的路上！ 「滾石雜誌」這樣形容基南︰雖然這是傳記，我覺得它更像一本地圖。