The Mondavis: Keeping it in the family

The world-famous Robert Mondavi brand still exists, but the 16 members of the Mondavi clan are dispersed and are all making fine wines elsewhere. Roger Morris meets them.

Marcia and Tim

Ask any wine lover in Singapore, Seattle or Santiago who the most-famous American winemaker is, and they will undoubtedly say Robert Mondavi, even though the Napa Valley wine pioneer died in 2008.

The same is true if you ask the name of the most famous American winery.

It would be Robert Mondavi Winery, which thousands of wine tourists visit annually, while thousands more check out its iconic archway in Oakville on Route 29 as they travel up and down the valley. But in spite of the winery’s name, the Mondavis don’t work there anymore, and have not done so since Constellation purchased the Robert Mondavi Corporation – its estate, vineyard and name – in 2004. However, the Mondavis of Napa Valley are still growing grapes and making wine in the valley, but are doing so on Howell Mountain, Pritchard Hill, Atlas Peak and further up valley on the flatlands north of St. Helena.

Altogether, there are 16 Mondavi family members active in the wine business, clustered in the three branches of the family – five third generation and 11 fourth generation – producing 17 brands, and importing and selling wines from other countries.

The first Mondavis, Cesare and Rosa, immigrated to Napa Valley from Italy’s Le Marche region by way of Minnesota and Lodi in California’s Central Valley, buying the Charles Krug winery in 1943, which they ran with the help of sons Robert and Peter.

Cesare died in 1959, and Rosa took over the winery. An ongoing argument between the two brothers over the winery’s direction broke out into a kitchen fight in 1965, and Rosa kicked Robert out of the business. With his three children, Michael, Tim and Marcia, Robert started his eponymous winery in 1966.

Peter eventually took over the Charles Krug business from Rosa with his two sons, Marc and Peter Jr. Today, the winemaking Mondavis are clustered into three family branches:

PETER JR & MARC MONDAVI
Even though the more glamorous Robert Mondavi side of the family received all the press, it was the family of Peter, who died in 2016 at the age of 101, that maintained the direct business link to the first Mondavi venture in Napa Valley.

Although still family-owned, their business – formally known as C. Mondavi & Family – is governed by a board with some outside directors. “We are essentially brand ambassadors who do a lot of travelling to support the distribution and sales force,” Peter says.

The principal brands are Charles Krug, C.K. Mondavi, Divining Rod, CR Cellars and Purple Heart, a combination of entry-level and fine wines.

Only Charles Krug is exported, in small amounts to Hong Kong. Marc’s four daughters – Angelina, Alycia, Riana and Giovanna – though still shareholders in, and brand ambassadors for, C. Mondavi, are involved in their separate wine businesses.

Michael and Rob Mondavi

Together, they produce Dark Matter Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, and recently took over C. Mondavi’s Aloft Cabernet Sauvignon, both low-production, high-priced wines.

“In 2003, the four of us bought a two-acre plot on Howell Mountain for Dark Matter and started rehabbing the vines,” Alyssia says. “The first vintage was the 2005.”

Angelina, the eldest, also produces a wine with cousin Rob Mondavi, Michael’s son, called Fourth Leaf, as both represent the fourth generation.

As the only sister who actually makes wine, Angelina also has a consulting business, currently advising eight local wineries. “It’s been fun for Rob and I to get to know each other,” Angelina says. “We both know how to balance what the other does. Rob loves working in the vineyard, while I’m the classic winery person” The family wine business has a rule that grown children have to work five years outside the company before deciding whether to formally join it.

Peter Jr.’s children, Lucio, who has a technical training, and Lia, still in college, are in that period. Many of Napa Valley’s legacy brands have been sold to large corporations, such as Gallo, Constellation, Boisset and Trinchero, but Marc and Peter Jr. say they aren’t looking for takeover offers.

“We have a succession plan,” Peter says, “but those are always works in progress.” The next generation agrees. “We intend to keep it in the family,” Alyssa says. “We all look forward to get more involved with it in the future.”

TIM MONDAVI & MARCIA MONDAVI BORGER
“It was traumatic and tumultuous up to the very end.” That’s how Tim Mondavi remembers the final months before the publicly-traded Robert Mondavi Corporation was sold in 2004 to Constellation Brands.

Head winemaker Tim and his sister, Marcia Mondavi Borger, sat on the board of RMC, which had deposed their older brother, Michael, as CEO a few months earlier.

The two hoped to retain the fine wine part of the business in any sale but that didn’t happen.

Tim and Marcia had always been close and viewed business matters similarly, so they were prepared when the sale closed in December 2004. “We had tanks and equipment ready for the next harvest,” Tim says.

Just as Robert Mondavi didn’t miss a vintage when he was forced out of the family business his father founded, neither did Tim and Marcia. “We haven’t skipped a vintage as a family since 1919,” Tim says, referring to the time when Cesare brokered grapes in Lodi before moving to Napa Valley in 1943.

Twelve vintages later, Tim and Marcia and their families operate the aptly name Continuum Estate on Pritchard Hill, an upscale wine neighbourhood in the mountains east of St. Helena on the way to Lake Berryessa, where the Chappellet, Colgin, and Brand wineries are based. Altogether, Continuum has 41 acres of red Bordeaux grapes, over half Cabernet Sauvignon, with another 19 acres available.

Except for Novicuum, currently made from younger vines, they say: “Our intent was an estate-based concept, a single wine that expresses a single estate.” Tim adds: “Later this year, we’ll release the 2014, our 10th vintage of Continuum.”

Even though vineyard production is kept low, the fairly large acreage is in keeping with the Bordeaux estate concept of one single, quality wine.

(l-r) Rob Jr, Isabel, Michael and Dina

Currently, about 3,000 cases are being made, depending on vintages, with a goal of 5,000. “We’re still in the brand-building stage,” Tim says, “although we export about 27% of our production, mainly to Europe and Asia.”

As Robert Mondavi pioneered Napa Valley in the world marketplace, with ventures with French, Italian and South American producers, both Tim and Michael have profited from that experience and its connections.

By contrast, the C. Mondavi Family branch has concentrated on domestic markets. Four of Tim’s five children – Carissa, Chiara, Carlo and Dante – work in some capacity for the winery, either in production or distribution, and Marcia’s son, Brian Borger, has just started in the financial side of the business.

Additionally, Carlo and Dante have gone beyond the limits of the valley with a Pinot Noir winery on the Sonoma Coast, called Raen, which they started in 2013. “Our goal at Continuum is a simple one,” Tim says, “which is to be recognised as one of the finest wines in the world.

We’ve already realised one dream – to be 100% estate bottled. That’s something more than we did at Robert Mondavi.”

MICHAEL MONDAVI
Of all the Napa Valley Mondavis, there is no doubt that Michael Mondavi has been the most ambitious in the first two decades of this century.

In 1999, while still CEO at Robert Mondavi, Michael and his family – wife Isabel and children Robert (Rob) Mondavi Jr. and Dina – purchased a vineyard on Atlas Peak that became the seat of Michael Mondavi Family Estate wines when he parted company with RMC several months before it was sold in 2004. “Let’s be honest,” Michael says, “I was fired.

After we went public in 1994, the rules changed.” It wasn’t long before the family used his international ties to start Folio Fine Wine Partners to import such stellar properties as Frescobaldi, Ornellaia, Masseto and Donnafugata from Italy, Charles Heidsieck from France and Susana Balbo from Argentina. Additionally, they also produce Animo, M by Michael Mondavi and Isabel Mondavi brands, and Rob and Dina make Emblem.

Folio owns, but doesn’t produce, the Spellbound, Oberon and Hangtime brands. In recent years, Rob Mondavi has taken on most of the duties of wine production, while Dina handles much of the financial aspects of the enterprise.

“Dad hasn’t walked away from the winery,” Rob says. “He’s here three or four times a week and sits in on the blending sessions.” Rob continues: “I’m excited about the fact that our grapes are now 99% internally sourced. Estate sourcing is perhaps the key component in determining quality.”

(l-r) Riana, Angelina, Marc, his wife, Janice, Giovanna and Alycia

The fraction of grapes that are externally sourced comes from the highly regarded Stagecoach Vineyard. About 10% of the family’s wine is exported, chiefly to northern Europe and Asia.

“We only plan nominal growth” in the next few years, he says, pointing out that the flagship M by Michael Mondavi brand only produces about 385 cases annually.

The family sold its winery building in Carneros a couple of years ago because it was too large for their needs, but none of its assets.

They are looking for a smaller facility.

HEAD FOR THE HILLS
Meanwhile, the fifth-generation Mondavis are growing up in the wings. Take Rob’s six-year-old son, Robert Michael. “Already he can handle a refractometer,” Rob says, “and he loves to taste grapes. He has a great palate.”

There is one thing all three branches of Mondavis have in common. Although Cesare and Rosa produced wine on the valley floor, as did their sons, the third and fourth generations have moved into the hills.

“We each have our own mountain,” Alyssia Mondavi laughs. “Michael’s family is on Atlas Peak, Tim and Marcia’s family is on Pritchard Hill, and my sisters and I are on Howell Mountain.” It’s clear the families have yet to peak, as they move onward and upward.