Wine World Remembers Robert Mondavi (1916-2008)

images Wine World Remembers Robert Mondavi (1916 2008) When Robert Mondavi built the first major Napa Valley winery since Prohibition in 1966, he was determined to show the world that California Wines, especially those from his Napa Vineyards, could compete with wines from around the world. At that time, California was still primarily known for its bulk packaged, price slashed jug wines, but he was this country’s true pioneer of the wine industry and he adopted revolutionary winemaking techniques and introduced the industry to a bold approach to marketing.

He was the industry’s most enthusiastic ambassador for California wine, and he devoted his life and still traveled after the age of 90 to endorse wine’s health, cultural and social benefits. True to his Italian immigrant roots, his company became the focal point in a portrait of the Mediterranean lifestyle. Robert Mondavi always believed that his wines belonged on every table even if the seasoned olive oil and sliced tomatoes shared space on the table with foie gras. Until his Death on May 16, 2008 Robert Mondavi promoted the moderate consumption of wine and its accompaniment to dining.

“He had the single greatest influence in this country with respect to high quality wine and its place at the table,” said wine critic Robert Parker. Mondavi lead the way for wine making practices that are all commonplace in the industry today, like cold fermentation, and the use of stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels. He was the first to introduce blind tastings, and ‘wine dinners’ pairing varietal wines for different courses. He was confident enough to call his Sauvignon Blanc that was produced in Napa Valley Fume Blanc’ adopting the name Fume’ Blanc because it was more French sounding, and now the two terms are interchangeable.

It was Robert Mondavi who was the first to be confident enough to believe that California wines were as good as any wine found in the world, including France. Mondavi boldly put his wines up against French vintages when no one else would, and although his wine wasn’t the winner of the now famous 1976 Judgment of Paris, Robert Mondavi was right. That year winemaker Warren Winiarski of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was awarded the best Cabernet Sauvignon, beating Chateau Mouton-Rothschild for the top spot in the world. Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, also from California, was made by winemaker Mike Grgich, and selected as the best Chardonnay in the world that same year. Both Winiarski and Grgich were former employees and the first students of what is called ‘Mondavi College’, and now the disciples of Modavi and his methods, were the best in the world.But it was Mondavi that was the pioneer of business he entered in the first French-American wine venture he forming a limited partnership with the legendary French vintner Baron Philippe de Rothschild to grow and make the ultra-premium Opus One at Oakville. The venture’s first vintage was in 1979. That same year, Mondavi looked to the future of value-priced table wine, and to Lodi, California Vineyards when his Woodbridge Winery. Woodbridge became the first in the region to convert to single-label wine production with Robert Mondavi red and white wines, that he affectionately named Bob Red and Bob White. In 1985 the winery pioneered the gentle, direct-to-press operation for white wines, now practiced industry-wide. The success of the Mondavi winery allowed him to donate tens of millions of dollars to charity, but a wine glut and intense competition from Australia and South America gradually cost his family control of the business. In 2004, the company accepted a buyout worth $1.3 billion from Fairport, N.Y.-based Constellation Brands. “He was a tireless entrepreneur who transformed how the world felt about California wine, and an unforgettable personality to everyone who knew him. Robert Mondavi is a true California legend.” said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.