It’s baseball season and the usual gathering involves beer and hot dogs and peanuts and well, you get the picture. But we’re stepping things up a bit and we were thrilled to have a chance to hang out with our friends of Francis Ford Coppola Winery for a ball game. The Chicago Cubs vs New York Mets were playing at Wrigley Field and rather than popping a can of beer, we decided to sip some amazing wines instead. The “Diamond on the Diamond” event was a fun night of baseball, wine and the opportunity to mingle with Coppola Winery’s winemaking team Evan Schiff and Tondi Balkan.
I like my wines but honestly, I don’t get the opportunity to drink as often as I would like to. So when this event came around, I was really excited. That, and I love Francis Coppola wines! This event was dedicated to learning more about the wines of the Diamond Collection. They are made from grapes grown in vineyards across California, from coastal regions to inland valleys. By carefully combining fruit selections with precise winemaking techniques, they able to capture pure expressions of each varietal. With twelve single varietals and two distinctive blends, the Francis Coppola Diamond Collection wines are so beautifully diverse, there is one to fit any setting and every wine-drinking occasion. Here are the wines we got to try out at the event:
Crisp and bright white wine made to enjoy on warm, sunny days.
Crafted in the classic Northern Italian style.
Grown in the cool climate of Monterey County, ideal conditions for this delicate grape, our Pinot Grigio is delightfully refreshing. The grapes are picked in the early morning and fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures, bringing out top notes of apricots and tangerines, followed by flavors of pear, green apple and grapefruit with underlying mineral accents.
This wine has an interesting story best told by their winemaker Corey Beck: “Our Diamond Collection Pinot Noir is sourced from a vineyard just east of the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey Country. This vineyard was originally planted with Merlot vines – however, after a few years of working with it, we realized its Bay-influenced cool temperatures and abundant afternoon sunshine created potential for producing great Pinot Noir. This inspired our first pre-plant contract with the grower in preparation for the wine’s introduction in 2001, well before the rise of Pinot Noir popularity. This long-standing relationship allows us to deliver exceptional Pinot Noir from a prime growing region.”
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