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Wine Whiz Mondavi Dead at 94

Posted May 16, 08 7:54 PM CDT in Arts & Living 

(Newser) – California wine master Robert Mondavi died peacefully today in his Napa Valley home at age 94, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Disciples and critics alike have praised the vintner for elevating West Coast wine from jug juice to world-class vino. "His legacy and his vision for what California could do remains with us as guidepost and a source of aspiration," one winemaker said.

The dapper grape-grower broke away from the family business in 1965, intent on proving that California grapes, steel fermentation tanks, and French oak barrels could produce wine on par with Europe's. His family sold the winery for more than $1 billion 4 years ago, but Mondavi stayed active in Napa's wine community until last year.

Source San Francisco Chronicle

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The Robert Mondavi Winery.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Robert Mondavi, who built the first new winery in California's Napa Valley since prohibition, is dead at 94.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, talks with Margrit Mondavi and inductee Robert Mondavi before the California Hall of Fame ceremony at the California Museum of History, Women and Arts in Sacramento.   (AP Photo/Steve Yeater)
Peter Mondavi, left, and his brother Robert Mondavi, right, sit together during the festival event of the Napa Valley wine auction in St. Helena, Calif.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Workers sift through Cabernet Sauvignon grapes on a sorting table.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
A grape picker dumps a load of Cabernet Franc grapes into a bin in California.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
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California • obituary • wine • wine industry • innovation • Napa Valley • vineyard • Robert Mondavi


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