Robert Mondavi

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, his Father, 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 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.

[edit] Wine history

In 1968 he made a dry oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc, an unpopular variety in California at the time, and labelled it "FumÐ"© Blanc." The wine was a success and, in time, FumÐ"© 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 ChÐ"Ñžteau 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.

[edit] Autobiography and legacy

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

On December 22, 2004, Constellation Brands