The Inglenook Winery produced estate bottled wines in Rutherford, California in the Napa Valley. The winery was founded in 1879 by a Finnish Sea Captain Gustave Niebaum. Niebaum died in 1908 and the winery was shut down during Prohibition. Upon repeal of Prohibition, Niebaum's widow Suzanne Niebaum reopened Inglenook and brought in a viticulture and enology to upgrade the winemaking system. Niebaum's great-nephew John Daniel Jr. took over operations in 1939, and by the 1940s Inglenook's wines once again were declared by many to be the best in the Valley. More than of the property were acquired by Francis Ford Coppola in 1975 with profits of his film, The Godfather. The brand name and the remaining 94 acres, including the historic winery, were bought by Heublein, Inc., which began making lower quality wines produced elsewhere under the Inglenook label. Heublin was later bought by RJR Nabisco, then sold to Grand Metropolitan in 1987. Heublein sold the winery to the Canandaigua Wine Company (which later became Constellation Brands) in 1994. Canandaigua consolidated winemaking operations elsewhere, and sold the remaining acreage and winery to Coppola in 1995. Coppola later renamed it the Rubicon Estate Winery. Constellation Brands continues to make a "value wine" under the Inglenook label, via its Centerra Wine subsidiary.

See also

• California wine

References

External links

• Inglenook official site
• Rubicon Estate Winery
• Article detailing construction of Inglenook cellar