A Family Connection to Robert Mondavi

On May 16, 2008 Robert Mondavi passed away at the age of 94. Obviously, his contribution to the wine industry in America cannot be overestimated. I don't think it is overstating the case to say that, without his influence, we would not be talking about the Livermore Valley or Monterey County's potential to make world-class wines.

My family goes back a long way with Mondavi. In 1966, Robert served as a consultant to my father and the other 4 fifth-generation members of the family as they began to transition from selling bulk to premium wine. In fact, my father, whose passion for wine was passed on to me, remembers Mondavi bringing 1959 first-growth Bordeaux to a biweekly meeting to show these young guys (all in their mid-twenties) what wine could be like. My father's "religious experience" was one of the conversation points that ultimately led to the creation of the Steven Kent Winery in the Livermore Valley.

In Julia Flynn Siler's book The House of Mondavi, she recounts Mondavi's quest to build his own winery after he was kicked out of the family business. My grandfather and great-uncle co-signed a loan for $100,000 that amounted to half of the initial investment in the Robert Mondavi Winery. In retrospect it would have been nice if they had loaned money in exchange for part of the business, but, alas...

Robert Mondavi has served as a model for me, too. His emphasis on producing outstanding wine and understanding the role that wine plays in a full, family-oriented life, resonate with my own sense of the importance of what we do. While his mistaken belief that his name was enough to overcome the lack of quality in his wines from Lodi and the like, led to an unfortunately ignominious end, all the energy he put into leading in the creation of the modern California wine business cannot be calculated. He will forever be among the giants of our industry.