In Memory of Robert Mondavi

IN MEMORY OF ROBERT MONDAVI

This has been a sad week. Within only a few days of each other the world has lost two great men. First the artist Robert Rauschenberg, who died on Monday at the age of 82, and today the winemaker Robert Mondavi, aged 94.

Both men will be greatly missed by their respective communities, and will leave a legacy that will live on long after them. Both were such legends that it is almost redundant to list their lifetime of accomplishments, but for a bio of Robert Rauschenberg we refer you to this special video.

In honour of Mr. Mondavi we post our favourite portrait of him, not one of his face but of his hands cradling grapes -- a photo taken for the cover of the Journal of the American Institute of Food and Wine.

Inside the journal, a dedication was written to Robert Mondavi by (the now also deceased) R.W. Apple Jr., and we would like to reprint his words here.

The thing that sets Robert Mondavi apart is the force of his will. Driven forward by his fierce spirit, he has done three lifetimes’ work in one: establishing a world-class vineyard, creating the most important Anglo-French link in the wine business, and supporting the well-being of his industry with unmatched generosity, working tirelessly to nurture – in the somewhat stony soil of late 20th-century America – the belief that wine is a pleasurable, civilized, healthy drink. He is to Cabernet Sauvignon what Admiral Rickover was to the nuclear submarine, what Henry Ford was to the family sedan.

There is also a second defining characteristic. Bob Mondavi is a super-salesman, no doubt about that, and full of the energy and the palaver of the breed. But he also has the passionate conviction that many salesmen lack, the belief that his product has all the virtues he attributes to it. Sure, he was born into the wine trade, but he stayed in it, despite adversity, because he loves his product. Watch him sip a really fine glass; watch his eyes sparkle; listen to him describe the vine to his companions. It has to be love, because only love can sustain such exuberance for decades. (1994)