Grand Opening of Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food, and the Arts, November 2001
Report by A. Lynn Martin
Napa, California, in the famed wine-producing Napa Valley, is a town of 70,000
that has seen better days. It stagnated as nearby towns attracted tourists,
new businesses, and new residents. That should change as a result of the new
American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts. In 1996 the winemaker Robert Mondavi
purchased a rundown area along the Napa River and donated $20 million to establish
the Center. Another $50 million in donations helped make Mondavi’s dream come
true. Renamed Copia, after the Roman goddess of abundance, the Center had its
grand opening on 18 November.
The grand opening began with a parade, of course, since this is America. The
parade featured icons from the American food industry — the Hershey’s Kiss Mobile,
the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile, M&M’s, Campbell’s Soup Kids, the Anheuser-Busch
Clydesdales, the Pillsbury Doughboy, and one group of interlopers in the form
of the Foster Imposters, but mercifully not Ronald McD----d. The Grand Marshals
of the parade were Robert Mondavi and Julia Child. After the parade came the
opening ceremony proper with speeches, and then music, entertainment, food and
wine tastings, and educational programs, all of which took place in Copia’s
parking lots. As for the impressive new building, the assembled throng had
to obtain an admission ticket to spend one and a half hours inside.
I did not attend the grand opening. I avoided the hoi poloi by visiting Copia
on the previous day, 17 November, when we members could enjoy an exclusive sneak
preview. So my wife, two sisters, and I — all members — joined some 10,000-12,000
other members; we also had to obtain an admission ticket to tour the building,
and when it came our time to enter we joined a queue that contained about 2,000
other members.
Before and after the tour of the building we spent our time in the parking
lots and the culinary gardens. As on the day of the grand opening the parking
lots were the venues for music, entertainment, food and wine tastings, and educational
programs. The gardens are special and constitute one of the unique features
of Copia. They include small plots that contain the plants grown by Italian
market gardeners who originally settled there. Other plots are dedicated to
particular varieties of red and white wines and illustrate the flavours and
aromas of the wine with fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs, as well as indicate
which plants could be appropriate culinary accompaniments.
The building contains a 280-seat theatre, an 80-seat demonstration kitchen,
the American Market Cafè, the Wine Spectator Tasting Room, Julia’s Kitchen (the
first restaurant permitted to use Julia Child’s name), and several large galleries.
One of the galleries had an exhibition entitled Forks in the Road: Food, Wine,
and the American Table. This included a screening of movie scenes that featured
food, interactive displays, and historical pieces. Another gallery contained
a display of art works with food or wine themes. Our one and a half hours
passed too quickly, and we could only sample the material, but outside the weather
was glorious, and the food and wine tastings beckoned.
Copia hopes to attract 300,000 visitors a year with an admission fee of US$12.50.
This compares with the 170,000 visitors that is the goal of Adelaide’s National
Wine Centre, which has no admission fees but charges $11 for the exhibition.
For more information check out the website: www.copia.org.
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