I admit I was quite taken with the packaging of this wine. Edizione Pennino is the name that Francis Coppola's maternal grandfather gave to his music publishing company in the early 1900s. Francesco Pennino's face appears on the bottle, in the center at the bottom. On the left side of the bottle one sees the Bay of Naples, the last place that Pennino saw when he left Italy. On the right is the Statue of Liberty, the first part of America that Pennino saw. Clever, no? But there's more. Each vintage of Edizione Pennino Zinfandel has the name of one of Pennino's songs printed on it. The 1998 cork reads Quando canta Posillipo (When Posillipo--a Western part of Naples--sings).

It's probably a wine writer faux pax to get so worked up about the packaging, but I mention it because it seems indicative of the care put into the wine. It's just wonderful. On first examination it offers up pungent fruit and lingering oaks and herbs. Let it breath for 45 minutes

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or more and it moves from a fruity Zinfandel to a more tannic and august one, dishing blackberry and perhaps mesquite smoke.

Edizione Pennino 1998 is 99% Zinfandel and 1% Cabernet Franc. It's aged 12 months in French oak and then another 6 months in new American Oak. You'll drop about $40 for a bottle of this in retail stores, but it is $40 very well spent. (Rating ****1/4)

To read more about this wine, surf to http://www.niebaum-coppola.com/winelist/pennino.html

Reviewed 06/15/01