There seems to be a slight trend in the world of wine at the moment, to link specific bottles of wine to (alive and dead) celebrities. In the last ten years alone, we’ve seen wines associated with Elvis, Jerry Garcia, Sting, Bob Dylan and many, many more.

These celebrities however, although associating their name with the bottles, have nothing to do with the actual production of the wine. This is where Francis Ford Coppola could be considered the top of the celebrity winemakers.

Not only does Coppola have a hand in the creation of the wine, he takes it particularly seriously. After the success of The Godfather, Coppola purchased the majority of the Inglenook estate in Napa Valley. Since this acquisition in 75, the Napa Valley region has become known as one of the most reputable wine producers in the area, with much of the thanks for that falling to Coppola himself.

If you’re thinking of trying a bottle of Coppola’s critically acclaimed range, grab yourself a bottle or two from the Neibaum-Coppola collection, which not only taste phenomenal but the incredibly original packaging makes them perfect wine gifts.

All of the wines in the collection are wonderfully drinkable, with each one offering its own individual collection of tastes. The red wines in the Coppola collection are rich, deep, full of fruit and will remind you of the top French wines. The whites are far more reminiscent of Spanish wine, especially the pricier varieties.

Coppola is one of the most highly respected celebrity winemakers, but he’s not the only one to have made it properly into the wine production industry. Other celebrity winemakers include sporting legends Shane Warne (cricketer), Ernie Els (golfer) and Greg Norman (golfer), as well as French actor Gerard Depardieu, who makes numerous excellent wines with acclaimed winemaker Alain Paret.

Get yourself and online and spend a bit of time searching and you’ll find some surprisingly good wines produced by international celebrities. If you’re going to spend some time sampling them all, I’d certainly recommend the Neibaum-Coppola range, which has some really excquisite wines.