JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
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ON THE COVER
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/ CIGAR & SPIRITS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
FILM LEGEND
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA WINE, WOMEN AND SPIRITS by Audrey Pavia | portraits by Monti Smith
D
riving through picturesque, treelined Highway 128 on my way to the Coppola Family estate in Napa Valley, I flashed back to the first time I saw The Godfather. It was 1972, and I was 14 years old. I remember sitting in the theater with my parents, mesmerized by what was happening on screen. I was too young to understand that gripping storytelling, brilliant acting and a powerful score had all come together to create a film that was so compelling, it was impossible not to be moved by it. All I knew was that I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie for weeks afterward. Seeing The Godfather gave me a profound appreciation for the power of film—an appreciation I still have today. On this day at Mr. Coppola’s Rutherford estate, on the wraparound porch of the house he purchased decades ago with his earnings from The Godfather, we were preparing to talk about
his line of Great Women Spirits, a collection of fine liquor dedicated to five special women in history. Given the effect Mr. Coppola’s work had on my artistic sensibilities, it’s not surprising I was both scared and excited about meeting him. So when I saw his red Tesla coming up the driveway, I could barely catch my breath. My nerves were soon put at ease. It was clear within a matter of minutes that Mr. Coppola was a kind, down-to-earth man who was easy to talk to and who remembered what it was like to have nothing. As we sat on the beautiful porch, surrounded by a lush garden, I asked one of film’s greatest directors about Great Women, winemaking and the overlap between spirits and cinema.
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