Mondavi, important family in the recent history of california wine, with Robert Mondavi (1913–2008) in particular doing more than anyone to raise awareness of the civilizing influence of wine in general and of California as a source of top-quality wine in particular.
Robert’s father Cesare came to the US in 1906 from the marche on Italy’s east coast. He and his Italian wife Rosa ran a boarding house for miners in Minnesota before moving to lodi in California’s San Joaquin valley in 1921, whence, throughout prohibition, they shipped grapes back east to America’s temporarily swollen band of home winemakers. Immediately after Repeal, Cesare turned to winemaking and was joined in the late 1930s by his sons Robert and Peter.
