Mondavi: a student and teacher of wine

Robert Mondavi transformed the nation's wine industry by convincing Americans they deserved to drink better wine and inspiring a generation of winemakers to create it for them.

At a time when California was producing little more than cheap jug wines, Mondavi championed the idea that Napa Valley had the potential to create wines every bit as good as the great estates of Europe.

"He really wanted to show the industry that we could make wines with the best," said Jon Fredrikson of the consulting firm Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates.

Other California winemakers in the 1960s believed this, too.

But Mondavi's singular influence on the U.S. wine industry stemmed from the way he committed himself to learning the secrets of the great winemakers of Europe and sharing that knowledge with his fellow Napa Valley winemakers.

"I never met anyone who was more supportive of his competition than Robert Mondavi," said Vic Motto, a veteran industry consultant. "I never met anyone who would share more to help other people in the wine industry."

While many will remember Mondavi for his passionate and tireless promotion of California wine, he was far more than a marketer.

"It is hard to imagine anyone having more of a lasting impact on California's $20 billion-a-year wine industry than Robert Mondavi," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

His influence on the industry was rooted in deep and meticulous study of French winemaking techniques and how they might be applied to California.

"He was a real pioneer in going to Europe and seeking out the very best practices they had to offer," Fredrikson said.

Mondavi led teams of winemakers to France on a regular basis to understand more deeply than any other U.S. winemaker before him how various techniques in the vineyard and wine cellar affected the wines.

French winemakers might not seem like a group willing to offer up their secrets to an upstart American, but the charming son of Italian immigrants knew how to coax information from people.

"He had a way of engaging people that made it hard to resist him," said Paul Hobbs, who worked as a winemaker for Mondavi for seven years.

Mondavi respectfully questioned everything, from pruning techniques in the vineyard to racking wines in the cellar, and encouraged his winemakers to do the same. Often French winemakers didn't know why they did something a certain way, just that it was the tradition, Hobbs said.

Mondavi wasn't interested in merely copying French winemaking techniques in California. He sought to understand how the French made their wine to better understand how to improve his own.

"I think Robert was very open-minded, but he never really bought into the French approach," Hobbs said. "He thought California, with its different terrior and different environment, should produce something different."

Mondavi came to believe that the French technique of aging wine in small oak barrels significantly improved quality, Hobbs said.

For an industry used to aging wine in stainless steel and redwood vats, California winemakers took some convincing. But, here again, Mondavi excelled.

He made time for other winemakers, never viewed them as competitors and shared what he had learned so openly that other winemakers couldn't help but be swayed.

Richard Arrowood recalled being a "wet-behind-the-ears" assistant winemaker at Rodney Strong Vineyards in 1972 and calling Mondavi for advice on a winemaking question.

"I said, 'Do you have a minute for a young winemaker?' and he said, 'Come on over,' " Arrowood recalled.

They spent more than an hour at the winery discussing winemaking, and Arrowood was struck by the way Mondavi selflessly shared details of techniques that others might have tried to keep to themselves.

"He wasn't so interested in making a name for himself. He wanted to make sure he could bring the beauty and excitement and pleasure of wine to all of us," Arrowood said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.