Drivers who blink their eyes when heading up Highway 101 in northern Sonoma County can easily miss the tiny burg of Geyserville. When that happens, they miss quite a lot.
While little more than a main street lined with rustic century-old buildings—originally built to serve ranchers but increasingly serving foodies and wine buffs—Geyserville and its environs are filled with beguiling settings for memorable wine country outings and events. No less a cultural icon than Francis Ford Coppola has chosen Geyserville for his latest wine tourism venture: the Francis Ford Coppola Winery, located in the former Chateau Souverain winery less than a mile from town.
Invited to a media preview of Coppola’s new venture, I had the chance to not only experience the new winery but Geyserville in the process. My overnight base was the Hope-Merrill Bed and Breakfast Inn (www.hope-inns.com), an ornate Victorian mansion complete with a backyard pool and its own small vineyard, which welcomes small meetings and retreats of up to 24 people.
Interviews in Geyserville
Up a vine-covered hill just five minutes from the inn, Coppola’s winery lives up to its intriguing billing as a family-friendly winery resort. Inspired by Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens, Coppola says his intent was to create a "wine wonderland, a park of pleasure where people of all ages can enjoy the best things in life—food, wine, music, dancing, games, swimming and performances of all types."
Touring the palatial compound, it was clear that Coppola’s vision has resulted in something far beyond even the most tourist-oriented winery. At the entrance to the chateau-style buildings are two enormous swimming pools flanked by an ornate bandshell modeled after the one at Michael Corleone’s Lake Tahoe estate in
Godfather II. Also in the pool area are European-style "cabines," changing rooms with showers that can be rented by the day.
In the main building is a spacious second-floor tasting room available for private events. A spiral stairway leads down to the ground floor where there is another tasting room and galleries filled with memorabilia from Coppola’s film career. There’s a tomato-red Tucker car from the film
Tucker: the Man and His Dream as well as cases containing the director’s Oscars and other awards.
Outside is a spacious terrace that adjoins Rustic: Francis’s Favorites, a restaurant where, as the name suggests, some of the director’s favorite dishes are served. At the media event, we sat at long tables placed on the terrace where we enjoyed magical views of the sun setting over the vineyards. Served family style were specialties from Rustic, including "Mrs. Scorsese’s Chicken" (a recipe from Martin Scorsese’s mother), lamb marinated in pomegranate juice, Neapolitan-style pizzas and other items that left no doubt that Coppola’s knows food along with wine and filmmaking.
While Coppola may be the most famous vintner in Geyserville, he has a show business predecessor, Raymond Burr of TV’s Perry Mason and Ironside fame. The late actor established the Raymond Burr Vineyards (www.raymondburrvineyards.com) with his partner Robert Benevides 25 years ago on a hillside north of town.
Heading up to Burr’s winery the next day, I came upon a winery as casual and low-key as Coppola’s is flamboyant. A shaded patio with picnic tables that can accommodate groups of up to 75 looks out over the hillsides and vineyards. It adjoins a small tasting room, presided over by Benevides, where visitors can taste port and other specialties and see memorabilia from Burr’s TV and movie career on display.
With a couple of hours to explore Geyserville itself, I found the main street filled with plenty more group-friendly venues. A stop at the Meeker Vineyard tasting room revealed yet another show business connection—it is run by George Meeker, a former head of MGM Studios, and his wife Molly Meeker, a former actress. The tasting room, which can host events for up to 75 people, is in a former bank dating to 1907 that features old-fashioned teller cages and a vault where cases of wine are stored.
Another cool tasting room venue is Terroirs Artisan Wines, located in a converted print shop, where guests can enjoy wines from three local wineries and mingle in an art-filled space with an adjoining back patio. A few doors down is Locals Tasting Rooms, which features 70 wines from 10 different wineries.
For lunch, I stopped at Catelli’s, where Domenica Catelli, a former private chef for Oprah Winfrey, and her brother Nick Catelli run a restaurant that has been in their family for decades. With a menu featuring tender house-made ravioli, fresh calamari, heirloom tomato salad and other specialties, Catelli’s offers large spaces for groups that include a private dining room for up to 60 and a huge patio in the back where events with live entertainment and dancing can be arranged.
