ROBERT MONDAVI WINERY

“When you order a Robert Mondavi wine at the restaurant, we know we control quality wines and tradition”

The Winery of Napa Valley was created in 1966 by one of the largest and most influential American vintners, Robert Mondavi.

Robert Gerald Mondavi was born in 1913 in Minnesota to Italian parents (Cesare and Rosa Mondavi). His father was a miner and mother operated a foster home. In 1919 Cesar Mondavi traveled for the first time to California to buy grapes for the Italian community of his state. Attracted by what he found on the west coast and seeing the potential of this state he moved his family to California and specifically to Lodi. «At that time it was the prohibition in the United States. His father understood that he would make more money by buying and selling grapes to the Italians of the East Coast so they could make their own wines. In 1936 Robert Mondavi graduated from Stanford University and went to work in St Helena for Sunnyhill Winery. He fell in love with the Napa Valley and its fabulous lands. He convinced his father to acquire one of the oldest wineries in the valley, Charles Krug Winery.This purchase marked the beginning of a great love story between Robert Mondavi and the world of wine.

In 1966 Robert Mondavi founded Robert Mondavi Winery. For the construction of the main building he told the architect Cliff May with to make a nominal design; a building that would render homage to the first-pioneer winemakers in California, Catholic missionaries. Six years later, in 1972 Robert Mondavi launched his first wine export program. In 1979 Robert Mondavi began his collaboration with Baron Philippe de Rothschild.

R. Mondavi was a lover of the vine and wine but also and above all an epicurean. Passionate about food and cooking he repeatedly invited many famous French Cuisine chefs and also Italian, American ... In 1989 he created a center dedicated to cooking and wine in Costa Mesa (California). In 1999 Robert Mondavi and his wife Margrit decided to financially assist the COPIA (Center for Wine, Food and the Arts) in Napa.

Great lovers of art they were repeatedly artists patrons. Even today some of the works acquired and certain family works are visible to the winery.The latter has a large and unique collection

VertdeVin: One of the famous wines of the vintage R. Mondavi is “Fumée Blanc”. Where does the name come from ? To create this wine R. Mondavi was inspired by both styles of wine: Pouilly Fume and the Bordeaux whites Graves. ‘Fumée’ (smoke) is a tribute to the first and ‘Blanc’ (white) to Bordeaux-Graves almost all of which are made from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. This wine is made from Sauvignon Blanc and a small percentage of Semillon and completely fermented in barrels.

V.d.V.: What is the signature of R. Mondavi in the wine? In 1966 when Robert Mondavi opened his cellar he went with two children in France to find inspiration. He went to the best restaurants, the best properties and it clicked. He said he had to make wines that may be associated with great chefs, wine as an accompaniment to a meal.

He was one of the pioneers of bottling wine from a single grape variety, not a blend. Since 1966 we follow the same