spend a day by the pool at coppola winery
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In case you don’t know yet, I love Francis Ford Coppola Winery. Not only do they make some great affordable wines, the location in Geyserville has a restaurant, full bar, museum and a swimming pool. It’s the perfect place to take visiting friends and family because there is something for everyone — if half of your group wants a break from wine tasting, send them to the bar! Then stay for lunch or dinner because their pizza is bomb. And don’t get me started on the bread balls they give you as a starter. 😋
But let’s talk about the pool. The pool at Coppola is a hot commodity. Towards the middle of March they open up sales for cabine packages to wine family members only. This sale starts at 10 am and if you aren’t on their website by 9:30 am you can say goodbye to reserving a cabine for any Friday-Sunday. That said, I schedule the pool sale in my calendar each year with reminders 2 hours and 1 hour before. #dedication
With a cabine reservation you get 1 cabine, 4 pool passes, 4 lounge chairs and 1 Sophia Mini per adult of the legal drinking age; plus you get to pre-select where you want to sit. Now when I say cabine, you’re probably thinking one of those luxurious cabanas at those beach-side resorts that’s basically a private room for four. Because that’s what I originally thought. But notice they don’t call them cabanas; they are cabines. And a cabine is basically a glorified locker room. It’s a closet equipped with a private shower where you can store all your stuff for the day. And these cabine packages are the only way to sit in a lounge chair by the pool. If you don’t reserve a cabine (and I’ll get to pricing on those in a second) then you can take your chances at their individual pool day passes. These passes will sit you on a towel in the lawn area — it’s actually a nice area but since the space is limited so they are only available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Tricky to make plans on something like that.
Now let’s talk pricing. Depending on when you want to go to the pool, there are three different prices on cabine packages. Monday-Thursday you’re looking at $185 or $145 for wine family members, Friday-Sunday is $210 or $170 for members, and Holiday weekends will set you back $235 or $185 for members. A new policy they started last year is that payment for these must be made while making your reservation. You used to be able to reserve 3 (that’s the maximum number they will let you reserve before the bookings open to the public) and not pay for them until the day of, but I think with their cancellation policy that became difficult for them. Totally get it. And at least this way you’ve already spent the money when the day comes and don’t feel so bad when you then spend another $200 on food and drinks. If you want to take your chances with an individual pool pass, you can get those for $40/adult or $30 if you’re a member and $20/child or $15 for members. Holiday weekends they increase those prices by $5 each.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because a day by the pool at Coppola Winery is one of my favorite things to do. It feels like I’m on vacation if even just for the six hours that I’m there. The last few years it’s been a tradition to spend my birthday by the pool. It’s super nice when it lands in the middle of the week (like this year) because it gives me something to do to celebrate without having to plan a whole day. And most people have to work, so finding 3 people to go with me is actually much easier — less people that have to be excluded.
Being by a body of water is my favorite place to be. And if you add in food and beverage service? I’m basically in heaven. When you arrive to the Coppola pool and get checked in, they direct your to your chairs and give you a cabine number. The minute you sit down, someone comes by to greet you with water and menus and ask if you’d like to start with your Sophia minis. Uh, yea I do.
For the remainder of the day you don’t have to think about a thing. Hungry? They have an amazing poolside menu with the best caprese salad. And like I said before, the pizza 🙌🏼. Thirsty? No problem, have a luxury lemonade (favorite poolside cocktail) while you stand in the pool — that’s right, they don’t make you keep your beverages outside of the pool! It’s almost all standing depth so you are free to roam from one side to the other beverage in hand. What more could you want?!
So if you’re local to Sonoma County, or visiting for a weekend, the pool at Francis Ford Coppola Winery is a must do. Make sure to frequently check their pool calendar for available dates. People make cancellations all the time so you never know when you’ll get lucky with an available cabine! Have you been before? Let me know about your experience in the comments below!
