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May 17, 2008 12:02 am US/Pacific
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Napa Valley Winemaking Icon Robert Mondavi Dies
YOUNTVILLE (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
Robert Mondavi, the pioneering vintner who put Northern California wine country on the map, died Friday at the age of 94.
Mondavi passed away peacefully at his Napa Valley home in Yountville around 9 a.m., said Mia Malm, spokeswoman for the Robert Mondavi Winery.
Mondavi, who was 52 and a winemaking veteran in 1966 when he opened the winery that would help turn the Napa Valley into a world center of the industry, traveled the world into his 90s as an enthusiastic ambassador for wine -- California wine in particular.
"He had an amazing life," said Robert C. Koch, president and CEO of the San Francisco-based Wine Institute. "He was a major driving force and an incredible promoter for California wine and the Napa Valley."
"He totally built the international reputation of California wines over the world and raised the profile of all our wines," added Clare Hasler, executive director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at the University of California, Davis."It's a very, very sad day."
When Mondavi opened his winery, California was still primarily known for cheaper wines. But he set out to change that, championing use of cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels, all commonplace in the industry today. He also made the bold move of holding blind tastings between his own and European wines.
His confidence that California could compete with the world's best was rewarded in 1976 when California wines beat some well-known French vintages in the famous tasting known as the Judgment of Paris.
Mondavi also was a major philanthropist, giving millions to charity.
"It is hard to imagine anyone having more of a lasting impact on California's $20 billion-a-year wine industry than Robert Mondavi," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. Mondavi, said the governor, was "a tireless entrepreneur who transformed how the world felt about California wine, and an unforgettable personality to everyone who knew him."
Born June 18, 1913 in Virginia, Minnesota, Mondavi's parents Cesare and Rosa (Grassi) were Italian immigrants; his father became a grape grower when Prohibition threatened his grocery store and saloon business. The Mondavi family located to the Sacramento area in the early 1920s.
Mondavi got an economics degree from Stanford University in 1936 and then went to work for the Sunny Hill Winery in St. Helena.
He married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie Declusin in 1940 and they had three children, Michael, Marcia and Tim.
In 1943, Cesare bought the Charles Krug Winery and instructed his sons Robert and Peter in its operations.
For 20 years, the winery was a family business. But Robert and Peter, the younger brother by 14 months, clashed frequently. Robert Mondavi had ambitious plans for the winery while Peter Mondavi had a more conservative style; Robert wanted to produce top quality wines and Peter was satisfied with producing less expensive wines.
According to Robert Mondavi's autobiography, entitled "Harvests of Joy," matters came to a head in November 1965 when the brothers got into a fist fight.
"When it was all over, there were no apologies and no handshake," he wrote.
A long and bitter legal fight —the case was finally settled in 1976— forced him out of the company.
So, he started over, charting a new course by opening the Robert Mondavi Winery; his first wine release was called "Fume Blanc."
The winery expanded and Mondavi formed the first French-American wine venture -- 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.
In the late 1970s, Mondavi's first marriage ended; in his autobiography he wrote that his single-minded pursuit of the wine business was partly to blame.
In 1980, he married a second time, to Margrit Biever, a native of Switzerland who had worked at the Mondavi winery since the late '60s. In 1981 he helped found the Napa Valley Wine Auction and in 1988 launched a program to educate the public about wine consumption.
The Robert Mondavi Winery went public in 1993 and in 1996 he invested in Chilean wines. By the mid-1990s, Mondavi had turned over operation of the company to his sons. But like their father and uncle before them, Tim and Michael clashed over management styles.
More troubles emerged as a grape glut soured the wine market in 2002 and lower-priced wines in the Mondavi portfolio faced tough competition from cheaper Australian imports and domestic brands like California's Two Buck Chuck.
Also a problem were the millions in charitable donations Mondavi and Margrit had pledged, including helping found Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, in Napa and giving $35 million to UC Davis.
In her 2007 book, "The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty," author Julia Flynn Siler wrote that declining stock prices later left Mondavi in danger of not being able to cover the gifts he and Margrit had promised.
Mondavi stepped down from the winery's board of directors in 2003. Then, a corporate restructuring in August 2004 boosted the stock price, but undercut the family's control of the company.
In November 2004, the company accepted a buyout worth $1.36 billion from Fairport, N.Y.-based Constellation Brands.
By that time, Michael Mondavi, who disagreed with the board strategy, had already left the company. Tim Mondavi also loosened ties to the company.
In a bittersweet moment, formerly estranged branches of the family came together after the sale when Robert and Peter Mondavi, aided by members of the younger generation, made wine together for the first time in 40 years. Using a 50-50 split of grapes from Robert and Peter's family vineyards, the brothers made one barrel of a cabernet blend that sold for $401,000 at the 2005 Napa Valley wine auction.
The auction lot was called "Ancora Una Volta," or "Once Again."
Robert Mondavi launched the Continuum wine brand with wife Margrit, his son Tim and daughter Marcia at age 92. It's first release was this spring.
He was to appear at the opening in October of UC Davis' $93 million Institute for Wine and Food Science that bears his name. Robert Mondavi had attended the institute's groundbreaking in 2005.
"He was a great UC Davis supporter and a tremendous benefactor for the campus. We will miss him very much," Hasler said.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)