Krug, Charles

(1825–92), German-born American wine producer, came to San Francisco in 1852 as a newspaper editor. After vineyard ventures in San Mateo and sonoma, perhaps at the urging of haraszthy, Krug settled in the napa Valley in 1860, founding a winery near St Helena in 1861. Krug was not the first Napa Valley winemaker but he soon became the most eminent of his day and inevitably came to be called the ‘father of Napa wine’. His success came in part because he understood public relations and because he developed his own sales organization. The winery he founded was acquired by the mondavi family in 1943 and is still notable among Napa Valley establishments, although Robert Mondavi left to set up on his own in 1965 after an acrimonious dispute with his brother Peter whose family still run the enterprise.