Tuesday, March 18, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
"So which ages better, Mr. Coppola, your wine or your movies?"
"That's a good question," says director Francis Ford Coppola, as he pauses, takes a gulp of wine and carefully considers his reply.
On the one hand, April marks the 25th anniversary re-release of his 1972 film, "The Godfather."
On the other, he was sitting in Las Vegas' Napa Restaurant at the Rio hotel-casino Monday night to promote another of his California classics: the worldwide debut of his Niebaum-Coppola 1992 Rubicon red wine.
The esteemed director may be better known for his 30 years of filmmaking than his 20 years of winemaking. But point out that wine and film seem an unlikely blend, and Coppola has a smooth response.
"Both fields depend on gathering source material ... then going through a period of refining and editing," he says. "In the case of wine, filtering and blending; in the case of movies, editing and mixing."
Coppola has plenty of advice for the novice wine aficionado. But first -- "You're of age?" the patriarch confirms in a fatherly way as drinks are passed around. Then he proceeds:
"The smart thing, when you have the opportunity, is have a little notebook and write down what you like," he instructs. "That's the way to do it. After a while, things start coming up and you notice, I like this particular varietal or taste -- that's the best way to learn.
"Actually," he adds, "that's the best way to learn about anything."
He knows of which he speaks.
"This is not right," he murmurs to Karine, the French assistant wine steward, after immediately spotting that the virgin bottle of '92 Rubicon had been tainted by the cork.
The glasses were promptly and quietly whisked away, the near disaster averted.
That didn't stop the 75 invited guests from eagerly sampling the blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc, which will retail for about $50 a bottle.
The wine, which winemaker Scott McLeod describes as tasting of "blackberry, violet and vanilla," spent 26 months aging in a barrel and, since then, has been biding its time in bottles.
Coppola got into the wine business in 1975, when he used proceeds from "The Godfather" to buy part of the 19th century Niebaum estate in Rutherford, Calif. He then reunited the entire original property in 1995, including its historic stone chateau.
An exhibit at the winery opening at the end of April will trace the history of Niebaum-Coppola's two immigrant families: the Niebaums, a Finnish seafaring family and their old winemaking equipment, and the Coppolas, an Italian filmmaking family and their old filmmaking equipment.
Coppola plans by next fall to create a sort of Planet-Hollywood-comes-to-Napa-Valley display, showcasing Coppola's five Oscars and mementos from his films such as Don Corleone's desk, the platoon boat from "Apocalypse Now," and the costume from "Bram Stoker's Dracula."
In the meantime, Coppola is working on a film version of John Grisham's "The Rainmaker," and his new quarterly literary magazine, "Zoetrope: Short Stories," which he hopes will inspire original material that might be used as fodder for the big screen.
As for the original question, Coppola diplomatically evades choosing which of his two creations might be the better for wear.
"But I think if you make a classic and do it right," says Coppola, "it can live for a hundred years -- at least."
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