Robert Mondavi: Salute to a Visionary

Posted on May 17, 2008 by Gary McCarty

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I’m not a very big fan of California wines. I frankly think Chile and Argentina do a much better job at much lower prices. But I do have to pay tribute to Robert Mondavi, the pioneer who turned the Napa Valley and California in general into world-renown winemaking names. (Robert is pictured in the right in the photo, next to his brother Peter, whom he once knocked to the ground. They didn’t speak for 20 years.)

Mondavi passed away peacefully yesterday at 94. He was a giant in the American wine industry, and I’ll forever treasure his memory for his having invented Fume Blanc, a sort of Chardonnay without the oak and buttery taste that makes the latter so detestable. However, I’ll still buy a French Sancerre before any California white wine.

Here’s a great obituary from the Los Angeles Times.

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