inglenook cellars, napa valley
Wines ageing in oak after fermentation at Inglenook in Rutherford, Napa Valley.
(Image credit: M2 Photography / Alamy)

Inglenook plans to add 122 stainless steel vats to its winemaking arsenal in time for the 2020 vintage in Napa Valley.

‘The addition of 122 tanks will give each vineyard parcel its own place to develop,’ Philippe Bascaules, Inglenook’s director of winemaking, told Decanter.com.

It is the latest example of a trend among the world’s top producers to exert more precision over their wines by fermenting different parts of their vineyard harvest separately.

‘When I started working with the Coppola Family [in 2011], I gave them a 50-year plan for the renewal of the vineyards,’ said Bascaules, who is also MD at Château Margaux in Bordeaux.

‘This expansion is consistent with that plan and our ongoing exploration and experimentation.’

In a press statement, Bascaules added that the expansion means Inglenook ‘can then better explore the capacity of each parcel, which will create more diversity and will lead to more complex, balanced blends’.

Financial details of the expansion were not disclosed.

Inglenook is celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2019, but Francis Ford Coppola and his wife Eleanor spent more than three decades restoring the estate to its original form after buying their first tranche of its vineyards in 1975.

They bought up more parcels over the subsequent years but it wasn’t until 2011 that the couple gained the trademark rights to the Inglenook name, for a sum believed to be around $14m.

‘My contract doesn’t allow me to say how much, but it’s in that region,’ the director of The Godfather and producer of Apocalypse Now told Decanter.com in 2012.

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Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer

Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.

He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.

Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.

Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.