California wine visionary Robert Mondavi dead at 94

By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Winemaker Robert Mondavi, the man most credited for turning California into a world-class wine producer and millions of Americans into wine lovers, died on Friday at his Napa Valley home at the age of 94.

Mondavi steered California winemakers away from making low-cost wines and toward refined wines, which ultimately would compete in quality with some of the best in Europe.

"He targeted quality before he targeted anything else, and at some point, he merged quality and Napa into a single concept," said Dan Berger, wine industry analyst and publisher of the Vintage Experiences newsletter.

"By doing so, he elevated California wine and Napa wine to a level that most people never would have imagined."

Robert Mondavi Winery spokeswoman Mia Malm said Mondavi's family had told her he died on Friday morning.

Details were not immediately available, but Mondavi had been in ailing health for some time and was confined to a wheelchair.

The son of Italian immigrants, Mondavi first learned about grape-growing from his father. He then traveled the world to expand his winemaking knowledge and went on to create the Robert Mondavi Winery in the Napa Valley north of San Francisco in 1966.

He used the winery as a platform to preach winemaking innovation to fellow vintners and created an industry powerhouse with clout.

But the Mondavi board of directors eventually lost faith in his family's management and sold the publicly traded company bearing Mondavi's name in 2004 to the giant drinks group Constellation Brands.

Initially, the sale disappointed California's wine industry but Constellation has won over critics by maintaining important Mondavi initiatives, said Richard Cartiere, publisher of Wine Market Report newsletter.

"They kept alive the chef's programs and a lot of his educational programs, more than would have been expected in a large corporation," Cartiere said.

WINEMAKER, SALESMAN, MENTOR

California's wine industry will remember Mondavi as much a salesman and clever marketer as a winemaker.

Without his constant promotion of the state's wines, the industry would never have become the force it is, industry insiders say.

"He touted California wines as world class -- as good as the best of Europe -- and tirelessly traveled the world spreading that message, making believers out of millions of wine lovers," according to the industry bible, Wine Spectator magazine.