In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 18 June 1913
- Died
- 16 May 2008
- Birthplace
- Virginia, Minnesota
- Country
- United States
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Establishing Robert Mondavi Winery
- International collaborator
- Philippe de Rothschild
- Educational association
- UC Davis
Why this life matters
His work connected winemaking, international partnerships and education. Its significance includes the people and institutions that made a regional industry more visible, while family conflict and an eventual sale complicate a purely promotional account.
Timeline
Key moments
Winery established
Napa Valley enterprise.
Opus One
First vintage.
Ownership changes
Constellation acquisition completed.
A family enterprise and a separation
Born in Virginia, Minnesota, Mondavi grew up in a family that moved to California. He studied economics at Stanford and worked in the family’s Charles Krug winery. Disagreements with his brother Peter eventually ended that working arrangement. The new enterprise followed experience inside an existing wine business and a difficult family separation. The account does not require an invented graduation year or the assumption that the subsequent success made the rupture inevitable.
Sources for this section: [2]
Building a winery with a public face
He established Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966 and worked with UC Davis faculty and graduates. The institute’s account links his programme to cold fermentation, stainless-steel tanks and French oak barrels. In a note added to his oral history in 1986, he recalled choosing Fume Blanc for a dry Sauvignon Blanc style. Product development and the language used to introduce it were connected decisions. His own explanation of a name is evidence of intention, rather than independent proof that one change alone created demand.
Partners, family and a wider company
Mondavi’s partnership with Philippe de Rothschild produced Opus One’s first vintage in 1979. In 1980 he married Margrit Biever, who had worked at the winery since the late 1960s. The university account also identifies international partnerships and the contribution of trained graduates. This was a collective enterprise involving growers, winemakers, family members and commercial partners. The partnership required several kinds of expertise; the documentary record should not collapse those collaborators into one person’s technical authorship.
Education, ownership and the end of a life
In 2001 he gave UC Davis funds to establish its wine-and-food-science institute. Constellation completed its acquisition of the Robert Mondavi Corporation on 22 December 2004. Mondavi died in 2008. The company’s name outlived its founder and changed ownership before his death. That distinction matters when reading later winery announcements. His educational support and collaborations remain part of the career, while later product or property decisions require their own dates and responsible organisations.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Robert Mondavi
- Does a later announcement under the winery’s name describe his personal work?
- It needs a separate date and attribution: a continuing company is not the same object as its founder’s lifetime career.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Arthur Guinness
Compare another founder’s beverage business, keeping the lifetime career distinct from the later company.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Congressional Record, 24 June 2008Honoring the Life of Robert Mondavi, H.Con.Res.365
The commemoration’s graduation year differs from other summaries. Only the supported degree and broad career sequence are used; praise about wine’s health benefits is not adopted.
- 2. Associated Press / Legacy, 16 May 2008Robert Mondavi Obituary
- 3. Robert Mondavi Institute / UC DavisRobert Mondavi: The Man Behind the Vision
- 4. Robert Mondavi / UC Berkeley oral-history archiveFume Blanc note, printed 102a, added March 1986
Only the inserted note on printed 102a / PDF 141 was read and whole-page viewed; no full interview, memoir or wine tasting is claimed.
- 5. Constellation Brands, 22 December 2004Constellation Brands Completes Acquisition of The Robert Mondavi Corporation
