He is now 70, and though he apparently doesn’t run regularly anymore, he is still trim and has the energy and enthusiasm that seems to be a family trait. It had been at least a decade since I had last seen Michael Mondavi. Notice that in neither venture is the name Mondavi paired with the word wine or winery, apparently a condition of the sale of the Robert Mondavi Winery, which at some point Michael was able to renegotiate for his brand. In 2006, the Michael Mondavi Family Estate was established. The first company they created in 2004, after Michael left Robert Mondavi Winery, was Folio Fine Wine Partners, an import and marketing company. The family business includes his wife Isabel, son Rob Jr. I recently met with Michael Mondavi, co-founder with his father of the Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966 and currently head of Michael Mondavi Family Estates. Son Michael and his family started wine ventures of their own. Robert’s son Tim and daughter, Marcia Mondavi Borger, along with their children, started the Continuum Estate. I was also around to witness from afar the meltdown at Robert Mondavi Winery that split family members once again, though perhaps this time with some financial compensation the sale to Constellation Brands. I had the honor of meeting him many times and writing about many of his innovative ideas. Robert went on to put the Napa Valley and his winery on the international wine map (among the elite, really), employing the talents of such winemakers as Warren Winiarski, Mike Grgich and Zelma Long. The result of that separation was the Robert Mondavi Winery. I wasn’t yet involved with wine when Robert and Michael were forced out of the family business at Charles Krug Winery. In the world of wine it conjures memories of visionary thinkers, charismatic leaders, bitter family strife, ugly separations and rising from the ashes…not just once. The Mondavi family also established the Folio Fine Wine Partners wine importing company in 2004.Wine Review Online - A Meeting with Michael Mondavi The estate also produces eight wines under the Emblem brand, including multi- and single-vineyard expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon from Oso Vineyard and the Napa Valley. Three wines make up the Isabel Mondavi collection: Deep Rosé Cabernet Sauvignon, Carneros Chardonnay and Carneros Pinot Noir. After fermentation, the wine ages in French oak barrels for approximately 22 months depending on the vintage with only the very best barrels are selected for the final wine blend. M by Michael Mondavi is the estate's flagship wine and is a single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon wine made from grapes hand-harvested in the Animo Vineyard. Californian black bears enjoy feeding on the ripening Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and were the inspiration behind the vineyard's name – oso is the Spanish word for bear. Here, Cabernet Sauvignon vines are planted at an elevation of 1250ft (381m) on stone terraced-slopes made up of rocky, well-drained soils. Oso Vineyard is the Michael Mondavi Family estate vineyard, which is situated in Napa Valley between the Sugarloaf and Howell mountains. Located within the Atlas Peak AVA, it is planted with vine cuttings from the infamous To Kalon vineyard in Oakville. The Heritage Block vineyard is 1.25 acres (0.5 ha) of Sauvignon Blanc that joined the company holdings in 2006. Amino Vineyard is planted to 15 acres (6 hectares) of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot vines that sit atop rocky, iron-rich volcanic soils at elevations spanning from 1200 to 1300 feet (366 to 396 meters). The Mondavi family had purchased Animo Vineyard in 1999, a vineyard perched high above the Napa Valley on the slopes of Atlas Peak.
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