The Wine Knows

Robert Mondavi, the man who was key to dragging the American wine industry onto the world stage, passed away this morning at the age of 94, according to the Napa Valley Register.

The Mondavi story has been well chronicled throughout the decades. The son of Italian immigrants, Mondavi talked his father into purchasing Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, Calif. He always pushed for the winery to move forward, first in quantity and later in quality.

A famous fistfight with his brother, Peter, led to a split at the winery and some ugly lawsuits. It also pushed Robert to create Robert Mondavi Winery in the mid-'60s down the highway in Oakville. The winery became the icon of the growing American wine industry and propelled Robert and his family into the national and global spotlights.

Alas, the family winery unraveled after it went public and now is owned by Constellation, the world's largest wine company.

Mondavi never made any major wine business connections with the Pacific Northwest, but wineries in Washington and Oregon in particular benefited from Robert Mondavi's marketing of American wine and technological advances that improved the wines and helped them compete on a world stage.