Francis Coppola 2007 Alicante Bouschet California

You'd be blind not to see this subtle little number sitting gregariously on the shelf. The shocking pink magenta label screams choose me, choose me! From Frances Coppola's Diamond Collection this one is a real head turner and thankfully a real pleasure.

The little known Alicante Bouschet varietal is one of few grapes that actually has red flesh, invented in 1866 by a Frenchman Henri Bouchet. With it's think skin and high yields it became immensely popular here in the US during Prohibition due to it's stout nature when being subjected to the overland journey from sunny California to the East Coast. Outside being used in blends for color, fruit and body it seldom is fermented to a single varietal because it supposedly lacks character, complexity and is somewhat coarse. Now someone needs to tell Mr Coppola as he seems to have been happily oblivious to this fact and crafted, that understood, an error... a glorious, mouth-watering moreish error!

According to the Coppola winery Mr. Coppola tasked his winemaker with finding the vines (Lodi) and producing this as it was the grape of choice for Grandfather Agostino Coppola's home made wine concoctions.

Pour this into the glass and it is SO red... flaming purple red, vivid and deep an inviting beauty. No surprise It smells of red fruit and lots of it, leather, chocolate and spice too. It's almost like you've been transported to the hustle and bustle of an immigrant Italian family kitchen during the early twentieth century. What a taste, although silky and medium bodied it is so rich and luscious. A jammy explosion of red fruit, cassis, plum, raspberry and cranberry, the leather remains intact on the palette and yes it's texture is somewhat coarse but in a good way, no... in a great way.

I love big, fruit-forward jammy Zinfandel's and like those this is hard not to drink at a rapid pace as it so incredibly enjoyable. Don't drink it in a wine glass, pour it in to a chipped thick glass tumbler paired with a hearty tomato pasta, salami, olives and a great big hunk of ciabatta bread, throw some Dean Martin on and crank up the cross-table family banter... go on be outrageous.

Run don't walk to Cost Plus World Market ($14.99) as they only produced 3000 cases for this maiden production, 91 points.

http://www.rossobianco.com