This is a good life. Food wine and all the good things of life now here's the host of the good life.
On this week’s Food Talk with Mike Colameco, Mike is joined in the studio by Tim Sultan, author of the new book Sunny’s Nights: Lost and Found at a Bar on the Edge of the World, “an indelible portrait of what is quite possibly the greatest bar in the world—and the mercurial, magnificent man behind it,” the late Sunny Balzano.
After the break is winemaker Sandy Walheim from Francis Ford Coppola’s newest winery, Virginia Dare. The brands and tasting room pay homage to two events in American history. Virginia Dare is known as the first English child born in the New World to colonists in 1587. It was also the name of an early winery which operated in North Carolina beginning in 1835.
Francis Ford Coppola’s mondo vino is expanding. The new addition to the repertoire is Virginia Dare Winery in Geyserville, California.
Coppola said, in recently renaming the former Geyser Peak Winery he acquired a few years ago, that he was “intrigued” by the story of Virginia Dare, the white child born in the first English colony. The mystery of what happened to the Roanoke colonists has never been solved. The word “Croatoan” carved on a lone fence post is the only hint of the fate of the “lost colony.”
The property that formerly housed Sonoma County’s iconic Geyser Peak Winery, founded in 1880, is now Virginia Dare Winery, founded in 1835 in North Carolina. Say it again? Exactly.
“Say it again, Virginia Dare” was the memorable jingle adopted by this winery, which was moved from its second home in New York to Rancho Cucamonga, California after Prohibition. In print and on radio, it was a media-savvy brand for the times. Director Francis Ford Coppola fondly recalled that jingle from boyhood days of the 1940s, associating the pretty blond on the wine label with an idyll of California wine.
Upon a recent visit to Sweet T’s Coffee, Beer & Wine Shop in Duck, I came across two bottles of wine that immediately grabbed my attention. Being a discerning member of our local NC beach community, I immediately recognized that both bottles had labels with Outer Banks motifs. One bottle read “The Lost Colony“, the other “Manteo“. As it would turn out, there are actually four wines, with two more arriving this month, that bear an Outer Banks influence. I took a closer look at the labels,“Virginia Dare Winery in Geyserville, California (Sonoma County)”.
When the first English colonists landed in North America, they found the place lousy with white grapes. Being English, they no doubt preferred a nice red claret. The first order of business, however, was addressing the marked deficit of white European children in the place. They addressed this with the birth of one Virginia Dare in 1587.
The rest of the story of the first English colony in the New World is one of total failure and mystery. Suffice it to say, things didn't turn out well for America's first white prom queen, but the future nation's nascent wine industry came out all the better when a red version of the Scuppernong grape sprang from the ground where Virginia Dare—spoiler alert!—bled to death, shot with arrows, while in the form of a white doe (it's complicated), by rivals.
He made such legendary films as "The Godfather," but director Francis Ford Coppola's latest production comes in bottles, not theaters: He opens his third winery this month. NBC's Joe Fryer sat down with Coppola for TODAY at the new Virginia Dare Winery in Geyserville, California.
Geyserville, Calif.—When Francis Ford Coppola, who bought the former Geyser Peak Winery in Geyserville, disclosed the new name of the facility on Sept. 24, a venerable name returned to the business: Virginia Dare.
Coppola has been teasing the market for a year as it introduced wines called The White Doe, Manteo, Two Arrowheads and The Lost Colony under the auspices of the American Pioneer Wine Growers.
“The myth of Virginia Dare always intrigued me,” said the legendary screenwriter and director, who also owns the nearby Francis Ford Coppola Winery (formerly Chateau Souverain.)
After a coy public relations campaign begun a year ago, American Pioneer Wine Growers (APWG) last week announced the name of its new property, Virginia Dare Winery.
Over the past year, APWG has released a series of four wines – The White Doe, Manteo, Two Arrowheads and The Lost Colony – each revealing a different aspect of the Virginia Dare legend ultimately culminating in the unveiling of the new winery name.
Located in Sonoma County’s Geyserville at the site of the old Geyser Peak wine facility, Virginia Dare Winery pays homage to the influential people, places and stories that are part of the origins of early American winemaking. Film maker and winery owner Francis Ford Coppola (Inglenook in the Napa Valley and Francis Ford Coppola Winery, also in Geyserville), is closely-associated with APWG and is known for his keen appreciation of wine history.
Francis Ford Coppola announced Thursday that he has renamed the former Geyser Peak Winery and it will be called the Virginia Dare Winery, celebrating the first English child born to American colonists in 1587.
Coppola purchased the historic winery and 32 acres of vineyards in the Alexander Valley in March 2013. The Geyser Peak brand, which was not part of that deal, was retained by Accolade Wines North America.
The Academy Award-winning director, best known for his Godfather series and Apocalypse Now, looked at the Today Show crew and joked “Who’s the director here? I’m the actor today.”
Once Coppola was given his cue, he unveiled the new name of the former Geyser Peak Winery – Virginia Dare Winery. Coppola owns this winery and purchased it in 2013.
“We’ve waited a long time to do this,” Coppola said. “It’s been a mystery for a year.”
The vintner replaced one mystery with another.
American Pioneer Wine Growers, a division of Francis Ford Coppola Presents, has debuted The Lost Colony, the fourth and final release in a series of wines leading up to the christening of American Pioneer’s Geyserville winery later this year.
The Lost Colony, a Sonoma red blend, is named for the colony of Roanoke Island, whose residents mysteriously disappeared around 1590. The wine is made from Syrah (47%), Malbec (42%), Cabernet Franc (10%) and Viognier (1%) and is sourced primarily from Dry Creek Valley. Aged in French oak for 12 months, The Lost Colony retails at around $18. The new entry follows three previous releases from the American Pioneer unit over the past year: white blends Two Arrowheads and The White Doe, and red blend Manteo.
“We’ve made four wines that tell stories about American history,” says Corey Beck, Francis Ford Coppola Winery’s president and director of winemaking. “Within that is the name of American Pioneer’s winery, which will be unveiled later this year.” The facility is the former Geyser Peak winery, which Coppola acquired in 2013.
