Peter Mondavi, who steered the family’s Charles Krug Winery for more than half a century in California’s Napa Valley has died. He was 101.
Mondavi died Saturday at his home in St. Helena, California, on the Charles Krug estate.
Mondavi began his career in Napa in 1943 when his parents purchased the winery, which was founded in 1861 by Prussian emigrant Charles Krug, making it the oldest operating winery in the region today. He assumed the role of chief executive officer after his mother’s death in 1976 and retired in 2015, turning the operations to his two sons, Marc and Peter Jr.
Peter and brother Robert Mondavi operated the winery for 22 years. A dispute over how to run the business led Robert to leave Krug in 1965. A year later, he started Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, the first built in the Napa region since Prohibition.
Charles Krug was the first winery in Napa to import French oak barrels for aging and was among the pioneering vintners who planted pinot noir and chardonnay grape plants where dairy cows had previously dominated the Carneros region of the valley.
Asked late in life to note his proudest accomplishment, he replied,
“Never losing control of our family winery. If I could, I would tell my father: I did the best I could during the difficult years. I was determined and we held on.”
Source: Peter Mondavi, Charles Krug Winery CEO for Decades, Dies at 101 – Bloomberg
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