Mondavi completes his mission
By Dick RosanoYOUNTVILLE, Calif. - Robert Mondavi, a son of Italian immigrants who gained worldwide renown as the father of modern California wine, died peacefully at his home, Wappo Hill, in Napa Valley, on May 16. He was 94.
Mondavi's legacy included bringing international techniques and standards to California wine, then taking that wine to the world. After making his fortune through the Robert Mondavi Winery that he opened in 1966, he championed the health benefits of wine drinking and donated tens of millions of dollars to wine education and charitable causes.
The epic that was Robert Mondavi's life is grand, textured theater. Born in Virginia, Minnesota, Mondavi learned to make wine during Prohibition from parents who had emigrated from the Marche region of Italy in 1906 and believed wine had a place at every meal. When Prohibition squelched commercial wine sales in the mining town where he grew up, Mondavi's father, Cesare, was sent to California by friends at the Italian Club of Minnesota to buy grapes for home winemaking, which remained legal. Cesare fell in love with the Golden State and moved his family there in 1923, which set into motion the Mondavi family's journey from home winemakers to owners of distinguished Napa Valley wine estates.
Robert Mondavi studied economics and business administration at Stanford, where he graduated in 1936. After teaming with his father and brother to buy Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, he showcased in the 1950s one of his earliest innovations: previously unheard-of winery tours and tastings.
During these early years in the wine business at Charles Krug, Robert energetically pursued sales while his younger brother Peter made the wine. Yet disagreements between the two came to a head in 1965 when a now-famous fistfight broke out. This well-documented sibling rivalry was finally resolved when family matriarch Rosa Mondavi chose between her sons. Peter was to remain at Charles Krug and Robert was to strike out on his own.
It was not until he founded his eponymous Oakville winery in 1966 that Mondavi was able to pursue his vision of a world-class California wine estate.
In the history of wine in America, his mother's choice turned out to be momentous. The elder brother wasted no time in breaking ground on the project that would, years later, land his wine on a global stage shared by Bordeaux and Italian wine royalty. He set the bar very high, enlisting legendary Beaulieu Vineyard enologist André Tchelistcheff to advise him on early production.
As he aspired to make the ultimate wine, Mondavi inspired others to follow his lead. Warren Winiarski, founder of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and a former Robert Mondavi winemaker, recalls, "It was his enthusiasm and spirit - his constant search for ways to improve California wine - that he will be remembered for." Winiarski worked at Robert Mondavi Winery from 1966 to 1968 before setting out to establish his own distinguished winery. Mondavi also hired and trained Mike Grgich in the art of New World winemaking; Grgich later founded Grgich Hills Winery in Rutherford. "He was so full of energy and innovation," Grgich said, "I got an itch to go work for him."
It may not be pure coincidence that these two Mondavi protégés won first place in the white and red wine categories at the now-historic and oft-referenced Paris Tasting of 1976.
Zelma Long worked for Mondavi, too, and later moved on to Simi Winery in Sonoma County, resurrecting the storied winery to its earlier grandeur. Wine industry colleagues say Mondavi's ability to attract the best talent, imbue his disciples with his unmatched passion for excellence and employ them in the production of fine wine will be remembered for many years as a remarkable achievement. "He's left us," Winiarski says, "but his vision will nourish the dreams of winemakers for years to come."
Once California wines had achieved international respect, Mondavi sought out unprecedented partnerships in France, Italy and Chile. The first, with the Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Bordeaux, created the Opus One Winery in Oakville in 1979. Later, he joined forces with the Frescobaldi family from Chianti and Eduardo Chadwick of Errazuriz in Chile.
He also became a global advocate for the health benefits of wine and invested in Woodbridge, a cooperative that focused on value-priced wines, while offering financial backing to a range of charitable and educational causes connected to the wine industry. One of the original founders of Napa Valley Vintners, a non-profit trade association organized in 1944, he much later became a major benefactor for COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, a cultural center that opened in 2001.
By the mid-1990s, Mondavi had turned over day-to-day operations of The Robert Mondavi Winery to his sons, Michael and Tim, but like their father and uncle before them, they too differed over management and wine style. The business faced multiple challenges as the wine market sank with the economy in 2002. Grappling with a global wine glut among other major concerns (including millions in promised charitable contributions) The Robert Mondavi Company accepted a buyout in 2004 of $1.3 billion from Constellation Brands of Fairport, New York.
Although his sons left the company to pursue separate wine business interests, Mondavi maintained his association with the winery he founded, acting until his death as a sort of ambassador emeritus. "Wine to me is not about real estate," he wrote in his 1998 autobiography, Harvests of Joy, "it's about the winemaker's heart and soul and passion."
Colleagues say Mondavi's legacy befits the nickname, "The Mission," bestowed by friends that spoke to his unrelenting goal. In the end, they say he had grandly achieved what had been a lifelong project: to convince Americans of the virtues of moderate, if daily, consumption of wine. "I always extol the virtues of harmony and balance," Mondavi wrote in his book. "So it should be in life as well."
In his twilight years, he and his brother Peter, who survives him, resolved their differences and appeared publicly together on more than a few occasions. Robert Mondavi is also survived by his wife, Margrit; sons Michael and Timothy; daughter Marcia Mondavi Borger; and nine grandchildren.
Contributing Editor Dick Rosano is a Washington, D.C.-based wine critic and author of Wine Heritage: The Story of Italian American Vintners.