Visiting Francis Ford Coppola's Inglenook Museum

One surprising highlight of our Inglenook wine tasting was the chance to leisurely roam through a mini museum. It turns out that when the Coppolas restored the Chateau, they created a museum that reveals the winery’s extraordinary history and filmmaking history. We were almost giddy with the chance to explore it all. So, I masked up, and we walked through the lower level of the Chateau and the second floor to marvel at what they have preserved.

Carved staircase gift shop hallways Inglenook Winery Museum Napa Valley Winery Those Someday Goals — A gift shop sits at the end, while the hand-carved staircase takes you up to the mini film museum.

Stained glass Inglenook Winery Museum Napa Valley Winery Those Someday Goals

As you begin your tour of the lower level, you’ll get glimpses of the early years of the property and some background on Captain Niebaum – the man who started it all. You’ll even get to see what his ship’s cabin and dining room might have been like as he traveled in the late 1860s. We loved seeing how the winery grew, how it changed hands, its challenges, and some of the earliest bottles of wine from the estate.

Inglenook Winery Museum Napa Valley Winery Those Someday Goals — A model train and a history of Inglenook live side by side on the 2nd floor mini-museum at Inglenook Winery.

As we walked closer to the magnificent hand-carved staircase, we also got a chance to examine the movie-making memorabilia. Andy was mesmerized by the samples of the zoetropes that the Coppolas saved and displayed (American Zoetrope is the name of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company). Have you ever seen a magic lantern? How about a moviegraph projector? We hadn’t either, and we loved getting a chance to get so close to them.

Moviegraph projector Inglenook Winery Museum Napa Valley Winery Those Someday Goals — We were mesmerized by the vintage filmmaking equipment.

Upstairs, it’s hard to miss the car. If you love cars, you’ll be amazed at seeing the Tucker 48 (produced in Chicago in 1948) on display. Featured in Coppola’s film, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, the car has quite the history itself. Apparently, only 51 of them were ever produced. And it is gorgeous.

Hand-carved staircase stained glass window Inglenook Winery Museum Napa Valley Winery Those Someday Goals — While some of the museum starts below the staircase, more displays and event space is on the 2nd floor.

Car from Tucker Inglenook Winery Museum Napa Valley Winery Those Someday Goals — There’s even a car from the movie Tucker upstairs as part of the 2nd floor’s mini-film museum.

We took out time and savored the memorabilia as we did the wine we had in the courtyard. The costumes, the props, and the stills made us smile. And it very nearly inspired us to get back to work. I only took a handful of pictures because we were so focused on exploring that I simply forgot to take many. And that’s a good sign of an afternoon well spent.

For more information about going to a wine tasting at Inglenook, click here. For more Napa Valley wine tasting adventures, click here.