CK Mondavi: Our Pride and Passion for Three Generations

Cesare & Rosa
Mondavi

THE CK MONDAVI STORY

The history of CK Mondavi Vineyards reads like a classic American success story: Italian immigrants transform an historical, but neglected, winery into a leader, leaving a proud winemaking legacy for future generations.

Cesare Mondavi and his wife, Rosa, immigrated from Italy in 1906 and 1908 to seek a better life. They didn't bring much with them: a love of wine, food and gatherings around the family table. They also brought the European tradition of home winemaking.

Together, they opened a wholesale grocery business in Minnesota, sourcing California premium grapes for shipment to others who also made wine for their families to enjoy, not uncommon in the first half of the 1900s.

The business flourished. But proximity to the growers would help to assure grape quality and availability, so the young family moved to the center of premium wine grape vineyards: Lodi, California. There, they shipped fresh grapes from the Napa and Central Valleys to the eastern United States, and continued to produce wine for the family table.

Cesare and Rosa's passion for wine, and setting higher standards for quality, rubbed off on their son Peter, who eagerly took to improving wine making techniques. He graduated from Stanford University in 1937, then studied enology at the University of California, Berkeley, under the tutelage of Dr. Cruess, a highly-respected wine making educator.

In 1943, Cesare and Rosa Mondavi purchased the Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, Napa Valley, where they began crafting CK Mondavi wines using premium grapes from vineyards located throughout California. Peter returned from the U.S. Army to help his parents run the fledgling winery, which had fallen in disrepair caused by two economic depressions and Prohibition.

Peter Jr., Peter Sr., Marc

The family began an extensive program to develop quality vineyards and to enhance winemaking techniques. Under Peter's stewardship, the winery set milestones for innovations - including cold fermentation for white wines, and sterile filtration techniques - that produced crisper, livelier wines. In light of his contributions, Peter was named a "Living Legend" by the Napa Valley Vintners Association in 1995.

Peter is the president, CEO and lead ambassador for CK Mondavi Vineyards, one of the most successful wineries in its category. And while he continues to be involved in the winery, his sons, Marc and Peter, Jr., are responsible for implementing the vision and values of their grandparents, with an eye toward eventually handing over the cellar keys to the fourth generation.