Francis Ford Coppola in a nutshell

He not only makes fine films, but also fine wines in California. He owns old cars, old buildings in New York and Italy, and loves flying. And bees, for that matter. Francis Ford Coppola is truly a man of taste. - TEXT MARJOLEIN SCHUMAN

Francis Ford Coppola in a nutshell

As we prepare this story in the summer of 2021, news arrives that Francis Ford Coppola Winery is being acquired, including all the Coppola family's wine labels produced in Sonoma Valley. Fortunately, it does not mean that the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now will stop his wine business. He still has two beautiful estates left: Inglenook in Napa Valley and Domaine de Broglie in Oregon. He also remains involved with his relinquished 'kids', along with the man who helped raise them, winemaker Corey Beck. You can see this as the story of a celebrity who has wine as a hobby. But it is also the story of Italian immigrants who built a future in wine in America. Robert Mondavi, Louis Martini, Sebastiani, Seghesio and Delicato Family Wines: you will also find these names on wine bottles in the Netherlands.

TAKE 1: NAPA VALLEY

Wine enthusiast Francis Ford Coppola, in 1975, was actually looking for a house for the summer months where he could also make some wine, like his ancestors. His grandfather Agostino Coppola even made wine in the basement of his apartment building in New York. He used cement fermentation vessels he had built himself. Not special wines, but wines for every day, that everyone liked. Francis Ford Coppola said in earlier interviews: 'During Prohibition, the law allowed a family to drink wine as part of a meal and to make two barrels of their own wine. My grandfather had fermentation tanks in the cellar and all my uncles told me how much fun this was. Making wine and drinking it all year round, I associated as a child with my family and having fun.'

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