From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Gerald Mondavi born June 18, 1913 in Virginia, Minnesota, United States is a leading vineyard operator whose technical improvements and marketing strategies brought worldwide recognition for the wines of the Napa Valley in California. From an early period, Mondavi aggressively promoted labeling wines varietally rather than generically. This is now the standard for New World wines.

Contents 1 Family history 2 Wine history 3 Autobiography and legacy 4 Vintner's Hall of Fame 5 See also 6 External links

Robert Mondavi's parents emigrated from the Marche region of Italy and settled in the Minnesota city of Hibbing. From Minnesota the Mondavi family moved to Lodi, California, where he attended Lodi High. In Lodi, Cesare established a successful fruit packing business under the name C. Mondavi and Sons, packing and shipping grapes to the east coast primarily for home winemaking. Mondavi graduated from Stanford University in 1937 with a degree in economics and business administration. While at Stanford he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He joined his father Cesare and brother Peter after the family acquired the Charles Krug Winery from James Moffitt, established in 1861 in the Napa Valley. Mondavi is the first major winery built in Napa Valley in the post-Prohibition era.

After a feud between himself and his younger brother Peter, Mondavi left Krug in 1965 to establish his own winery in Oakville. Part of Mondavi's original vineyard land included the To Kalon (a Greek term meaning the good one) vineyard originally established by Napa Valley pioneer H.W. Crabb in 1868. The winery bearing Mondavi's name produced high quality wine in the California mission style.

In 1966, he founded the Robert Mondavi Winery in the Napa Valley with the goal of producing wines that would rival the finest wines of Europe.

In 1967 Robert's wife, Margrit Biever Mondavi, joined the winery.

In 1968 he made a dry oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc, an unpopular variety in California at the time, and labelled it "Fumé Blanc." The wine was a success and, in time, Fumé Blanc became accepted as a synonym for Sauvignon Blanc.

Mondavi successfully developed a number of premium wines that earned the respect of connoisseurs and vintners alike. In 1979, he built the Mondavi Woodbridge Winery in Lodi, California developing it into a leader of popular-premium wines. He also entered into a joint venture the Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild to create Opus One Winery, and since the 1990s has set up joint ventures with local partners in Europe, South America and Australia.

In the Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997, the Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Reserve was ranked number one.

Robert Mondavi's autobiography Harvests of Joy was published in 1998.

On December 22, 2004, Constellation Brands acquired the Mondavi vinery for nearly US$1.36 billion in cash and assumption of debt.^[1]

Due to the contributions of Robert and Margrit Mondavi, the Mondavi Center in Davis, California for performing arts was named after him.

The two are founders and major benefactors behind COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, which opened November, 2001 in the city of Napa, California. Robert and Margrit are also founding supporters of the restoration of the 19th Century Napa Valley Opera House and the Oxbow School, a new art school in Napa that provides grants and instruction to art students in their junior year of high school. They have contributed to the restoration of the Lincoln Theatre in Yountville, California, and have supported the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Mondovino is a documentary film wherein the Mondavi wines and family are a central theme.

On August 20, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Robert Mondavi will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame this December 5, 2007 located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento.

Robert Mondavi was nominated and inducted in the Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of America. The election was based upon ballots from seventy wine journalists. The decision for their election of Mondavi is for contributions to the wine industry of California during his life-time.

Inductions with Robert Mondavi on March 7, 2007 include Agoston Haraszthy, Andre Tchelistcheff, Georges de Latour, Charles Krug, Gustave Niebaum, Timothy Mondavi, Maynard Amerine and Harold Olmo.

• California wine
• Sena wine
• COPIA
• List of wine personalities

• Robert Mondavi