Rubicon Estate

Rubicon Estate is the modern incarnation of the celebrated Inglenook Estate in Rutherford. The history started when Gustave Niebaum, a Finnish sea captain, fur trader and businessman, came to Napa Valley in 1879 and brought a large fortune with him.

He acquired a 40 hectare farm from WC Watson, who originally named the Inglenook Estate. Niebaum took the property seriously and modeled it on the top estates in Europe. The winery was built in 1886, with the unusual practice of estate-bottled during that time.

Niebaum died in 1908, and his widow handed the management to her niece’s husband John Daniel. Inglenook lost some renown during the first decades of the 20^th century, with the Prohibition dealing a further blow. After the repeal, John Danile Jr revived the property after inheriting from his father, with winemaker George Deuer from Germany.

Deuer introduced rudimentary temperature control by having cold water tubes hugging the fermentation tanks, with the wines aged in large German casks. Inglenook was best known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, with strict quality control and total production no more than 5000 cases.

In 1964 Daniel sold the winery to United Vintners, part of the Allied Grape Growers cooperative, and two years later sold to Heublein, with John staying on as consultant. By 1970s Heublein was releasing 4 million cases a year, and trashing the name of the estate.

Heublein had a change of heart in 1979 and replanted the vineyard, restoring the winery but the estate was already in decline, and in 1993 it was sold. Film director Francis Coppola was already installed on the property, having bought the Niebaum homestead in 1975 as well as some vineyards.

In 1994 he was able to buy the winery in addition. He was making wines under the Niebaum-Coppola label since 1978, retaining the service of Rafael Rodriguez, who had been in the vineyard since 1952. The vineyard has well-drained gravel soils and shaded from the afternoon sun by the location, allowing the vines to ripen slowly and evenly.

When Coppola bought the winery in 1994 he also bought another 24 hectare parcel, and in 2003 a further 22 hectare from the Cohn family, thus reuniting most of the Inglenook property. A rare Cabernet clone, known as Clone 29, was identified in 2002 and is believed to come from Bordeaux in the 1880s.

The winery is now a tourist destination, with a museum devoted to both wines and Coppola’s film career. The top wine is Rubicon, a Bordeaux blend, made in extracted style and aged for about two years in mostly new French oak. The second wine is Cask Cabernet, introduced in 1995, made mostly from younger vines in a more accessible style, aged for 28 months in American oak barrels. The other major estate wine is Blancaneaux, first made in 1999, and now dominated by Roussanne, aged now in steel on lees.

I have recently tasted the 2006 Rubicon and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with legs.

Nose

Clean, with pronounced intensity aromas showing black fruit of blackcurrant, blackberry and bilberry, oak notes of cedar and caramel, kernel notes of mocha, sweet spice of cloves, pungent spice of licorice, dairy notes of cream, maturity notes of forest floor and savory. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, this wine has medium (+) tannin which is ripe, very silky and smooth. Medium (+) in alcohol and a bit warming, the wine is of full body, with medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit of cassis, blackberry and dark plum, oak notes of cedar, kernel notes of milk chocolate. The wine has a long finish.

Conclusion

Very good quality California wine with phenomenal concentration on the nose, showing highly complex characters, the wine is equally impressive on the palate, with the ripe tannin silky and totally dissolved into the wine, with a roundness and smoothness that is exceptional. The flavors are of good intensity and also having a very long finish. The only thing I feel a bit annoying is the high alcohol and warming sensation, but that may be a price to pay for the ripeness of the fruit. Ready to drink now, it can benefit from further ageing of another 8-10 years.