Francis Coppola 2008 Sophia Rosé

They say looks aren’t everything, but once in a while you have to give in to clever graphic design or stunning package design. It was in one of these fits recently where I, with much prodding from my better half, purchased a bottle of 2008 Sophia Rosé by Francis Coppola at the winery bearing his name in Monterrey County, California. The bottle design is a work of art; say what you will about celebrity wineries, you can’t deny the curb appeal of this wine.

The scents of apple, sour white grape, and rose are present as soon as the chilled bottle is opened, and overall this wine retains a certain perfumed quality to it throughout. Here’s my problem with this wine, although it is fairly juicy, there’s this melted cheese thing going on… let me explain; the wine has an undeniably cheesy quality to the flavor, paired with a disturbingly greasy mouthfeel. The virtual lack of an aftertaste left me scratching my head. This wine may be a serviceable table wine, bit its nothing special, and certainly not worth the $17 I paid for the bottle. I’ve had better $6 wine than this vintage. I suppose we must once again retell that age-old moral: looks can be deceiving.