When Robert Mondavi founded the iconic Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966, his vision was to create fine Napa Valley wines that would stand in the company of the great wines of the world.
Robert Mondavi's parents emigrated from the Marche region of Italy and settled in the Minnesota city of Hibbing . Robert Gerald Mondavi was born in Virginia, Minnesota. From Minnesota the Mondavi family moved to Lodi, California, where he attended Lodi High School. 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.
In 1943, Mondavi joined his father and brother Peter after the family acquired the Charles Krug Winery located in St. Helena, CA from James Moffitt. The winery had first by established by Charles Krug in 1861.
"Even more importantly, it's wine, food and the arts. Incorporating those three enhances the quality of life." -Robert Mondavi
After a feud between himself and his younger brother Peter over the direction of winemaking at Krug, Mondavi was fired from in 1965 and subsequently started his own winery in Oakville, arguably out of spite. Today, the Robert Mondavi Winery is located between Oakville and Rutherford, California and is the most visited winery in the Napa Valley.
In 1966, emboldened by boundless enthusiasm, he built the first major winery in the valley since prohibition: Robert Mondavi Winery. Since then the open arch of the Robert Mondavi Winery has welcomed thousands of guests to share in the love of wine, food, and art.
In 1968 he made a dry oak–aged Sauvignon Blanc, an unpopular variety in California at the time, and labeled it "Fumé Blanc". The wine was a success and, in time, Fumé Blanc became accepted as a synonym for Sauvignon Blanc and yet another pioneering achievement of the Robert Mondavi winery.
Robert Mondavi in partnership with second his wife Margrit (Kellenberger) Biever Mondavi created a legacy in their mutual belief that the path to a more gracious lifestyle leads through the appreciation of wine, food, and art.
Mondavi successfully developed a number of premium wines that earned the respect of connoisseurs and vintners alike. 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, thus the reason the world now comes to Napa to learn the Mondavi legacy and to understand the greatness of American Wine Making.
In the Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997, the Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Reserve was ranked number one yet again demonstrating to the world the staying power and consistency of wines blended at the famous Robert Mondavi Winery.
In 2005 Robert Mondavi and his younger brother Peter made wine together for the first time after their feud. Using grapes from both family vineyards, they produced one barrel of cabernet blend, which was sold under the name "Ancora Una Volta" ("Once Again").
The passion for wine is not the only passion of Robert and Margrit. Their support of the arts and culture are also legendary as a result of the Robert Mondavi Winery. Due to the Robert and Margrit Mondavi legacy in support of California wine, foods and arts; the Mondavi Center at University of California Davis in Davis, was named after him. The two were founders and major benefactors behind COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts which and were 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. The Mondavi winery is a story of family and a legacy of great family passionate about the best of life.
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Our exclusive Ignite the Senses Gift combines the bold and graceful Robert Mondavi 2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with 4 melt-in-your-mouth 6-ounce cuts of Prime Filet Mignon from Stock Yards.
