The Zinfadel is produced with fruit located in the Dry Creek Valley appellation where the combination of the climate and the wonderful terroir makes for excellent Zinfandel grapes with an intensely concentrated flavor. Half of the grapes are pressed whole and the must is fermented in open-top fermenters for maximum color extraction and flavor. After that, the wine can stay in a combination of French and American oak so that, as Coppola describes it, "the wine gets real shoulders"

In the glass, this Coppola Zinfandel from the Director's Cut series is a deep ruby red as a beautiful Zinfandel should be. In the nose, this Zinfandel is a wonderfully powerful, full-bodied wine with ripe scents of fig, raisin, amarene cherries, chocolate and spices. The Director's Cut Zinfandel is luscious full bodied and velvety on the palate. On the palate, this Coppola is intense and full of flavor with ripe black fruit of dried plum, blackberry, spices, vanilla and a hint of laurel liquorice. A small amount of Petite Syrah has been added to this Zinfandel to give the wine a firmer texture and complexity.

Francis Ford Coppola (Detroit, April 7, 1939) is an American director, film producer and screenwriter known for The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now, among others, and is considered one of Hollywood's foremost directors. In addition, Francis Ford Coppola has been active in the wine growing and trading business since the 1970s. In 1975, he and his wife purchased the estate of Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum in Rutherford, California (located in the famous Napa Valley wine region) and surrounding vineyards. That winery is now called the Rubicon Estate Winery. In addition, Coppola also owns the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in the Sonoma Valley.

Wine making is a long-standing tradition within the Coppola family. Francis Ford Coppola has been making wine for longer than directing films. Grandfather Coppola used to make wine in the cellars of their New York apartment from grapes that had come especially from California. The wines that Coppola makes today are no longer the same as from the cellars in New York, but are made with the same philosophy. Wines to drink with friends and family.

The Francis Ford Coppola Winery's parent company was named USA Wine Producer of the Year on November 16, 2011 by the International Wine & Spirit Competition.