It used to be the Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery in Rutherford (page 64) until Francis Ford Coppola smelled money. After buying the Chateau Souverain property in Sonoma's Alexander Valley, Coppola renamed his Napa Valley family jewel as Rubicon Estate in March 2006, and visitors cannot even get up the driveway now without forking over $25.

The idea is that Rubicon Estate will represent Coppola's high-end wines including the big, bold (and expensive) Bordeaux-blend flagship called Rubicon. The other wines will be shunted off to the former Chateau Souverain property near Geyserville in the Alexander Valley.

So what will you get when you hand over $25 a pop to the nice man at the gate of Rubicon Estate? Valet parking, for a start, plus access to the slightly over-the-top grounds and buildings of the historic former Inglenook winery, a basic tour, and a five-flight taste of wines, including Rubicon. Anyone who buys wine will have their special "passport" stamped and the wine will be delivered to them when they hop in their car to go (anyone with a false passport will, presumeably, be deported). Be prepared to open you wallet again for any of the more specialized tours or tastings on offer.

Interestingly, the $25 fee is waived for wine club members and also for anyone who lives in the Napa Valley and can prove it (in other words, members of the exclusive Napa Valley Residents Club). This could spark a whole new underground market for fake identification cards along Highway 29.

The good news in all this is that Coppola is merely following in the footsteps of many other valley wineries that don't let visitors visitors onto their property unless they have paid an ever-increasing fee for a tours and a taste of the expensive wines (Far Niente in Oakville springs to mind). However, by taking the service up a notch and offering valet parking and other bells and whistles, Rubicon Estate is certainly upping the ante for high-end winery tours. That can only be a good thing for visitors willing to spend more to experience the more exclusive side of Napa Valley.

The bad news is that the tourist coaches and stretch limos that clogged the Niebaum-Coppola parking lot during the summer will probably now have to find somewhere else in the valley to deposit their tourist hoards. As Napa continues to edge out the tourist masses in favor of the big spenders, Sonoma had better be prepared for more traffic.