The origin of this historic winery in Rutherford in California's Napa Valley lies in 1879, when the Finnish Captain Gustave Niebaum (1842-1908) founded the "Inglenook Winery" (Inglenook = chimney corner). He had a beautiful Victorian-style castle built. After closing down during the American Prohibition (1920-1933), the winery was reactivated by the widow Suzanne Niebaum. In 1939, the estate was taken over by the founder's great-nephew John Daniel, whose 1940 Cabernet Sauvignon vintage was apostrophised as the best in California at the time. In 1975, the US director Francis Ford Coppola and his wife Eleanor acquired around 600 hectares of land with the considerable profits from his multi-part cult film "The Godfather". The brand name "Inglenook", on the other hand, the winery and 40 hectares of vineyards were bought by the beverage company Heublein, which produced mass-produced wines under this label.
After several changes of ownership, the "Inglenook" brand was owned by the beverage multinational Constellation Brands from 1994 and by Wine Group from 2008. Under this name, large quantities of so-called Value brands or Fighting Varietals (inexpensive...
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Hans-Georg Schwarz
Ehrenobmann der Domäne Wachau (Wachau)