Robert Mondavi
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 and is favored by most consumers around the world. Where legally permitted, many Old World producers are increasingly labeling their wines varietally because of consumer demand.
Family history
Robert Mondavi's parents emigrated from the Marche region of Italy and settled in the Minnesota city of Virginia, where he attended Hibbing High School. From Minnesota the Mondavi family moved to Lodi, California, where Cesare began 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.
After a feud between himself and his younger brother Peter, Mondavi left Krug in 1965 to open his own winery. He bought the To Kalon vineyard in Oakville in the Napa Valley. The winery bearing his name produced high quality wine in the California mission style.
In 1966, with his elder son, R. Michael Mondavi, and family 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.
Wine history
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.
Autobiography and legacy
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.
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.
Vintner's Hall of Fame
Robert Mondavi was nominated and inducted in the the Vinters 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.
See also
External links
- Robert Mondavi
- Robert Mondavi Winery
- Robert Mondavi Winery Official site
