With all the recent new about the Mondavi family, here's an interview with the other side of the family and a focus on the "other" Mondavi winery, Charles Krug.

AG: How do you, as a pioneering winery, an older winery keep up with the changes and fickleness of the wine press and the consumer?

PM: We’ve been plagued by that. What we’ve done – and it’s a long process – we started 20 years ago to focus our portfolio and eliminate Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Gamay Beaujolais, and Muscat Canelli and focus predominantly on Bordeaux reds. Now we’ve gone from one-third Bordeaux reds to two-thirds. We’ve revamped the winemaking from top to bottom, revamped the barrel program to French. We’re replanting our vineyards because they were planted in the ‘60s and ‘70s. And we’ve kept our nose to the grindstone and out of the press until recent years until the wines being produced today are exceptional. We’re reinventing ourselves. That’s how we’ve combated it.

AG: Why did you keep a low profile all this time?

PM: We were busy bringing our wines to the next level.

AG: Did the situation with your uncle’s (Robert) family have an effect?

PM: Not really. They are so far removed from us. There are very few parallels left: the size and the scope, and the financing. There’s very little to compare about these two wineries. (But) their whole direction had a personal impact on us. We were sad to see the family get out into the public.

You can read the rest of the article and interview by Alan Goldfarb at AppellationAmerica.com.

Vinewords is now being watched on Wine Blog Watch. Check it out for a fantastic list of wine blogs.

Well I picked up The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty yesterday and started reading it. So far it's very interesting. I plan on posting a full review once I finish the book. For now take a look at this question and answer session with author Julia Flynn Siler.

Originally posted on WineAbout, Virginie Boone's blog. The interview took place on Thursday, June 7th in Yountville, CA.

How did you initially get interested in the Mondavis?
It started in January of 2004. There was a story buried in the San Francisco Chronicle saying Michael Mondavi was taking a leave of absence and the deputy bureau chief of the Chronicle and I went to lunch and we were talking and he said it was odd that [Michael] would do that. So I started thinking about it and called over to the company and really hit a brick wall. It was so odd that at a company that had been so open for years and years, no one would talk to me. Mondavi was famous for having many, many friends amongst reporters, he was very open. That was the charm and integral part of the culture. The response I got raised a red flag and made me think, what's happened?

How did you start getting information if they wouldn't talk to you?
It was a publicly traded company so there were a lot of SEC filings and documents. Mondavi has the nickname Mondavi University because so many talented people came through there and therefore there were former employees and they were pretty easy to talk to. The wine industry is gracious and open and it wasn't hard to track down a whole bunch of people.

Had you met members of the family up to that point; you knew about the famous rift between Robert and Peter, right?
No. I really came to it cold and I think in some ways it was a good thing because I had never been on the receiving end of all that hospitality over the years, I wasn't a wine writer. I had never met a single member of the family before.

In that original WSJ story, you quoted psychiatrists that had worked with the family. What led you to that?
One of the key sources I ran across was Peter Ventura who had been the CEO of Opus One and is Robert Mondavi's nephew and cousin to Michael and Timothy. Peter at that point was no longer CEO of Opus One, he had just left I think. He was really the first member of the family to open up to me and that led to a family counselor and long-time lawyer for the family named Cliff Adams, Robert's self-described consigliore. He had been with Robert from the 1960s through the 90s, had taken them through the IPO.
Both of those men had a pretty good sense of the family dynamic - one was a family member; one had worked with the dynamics of the family for decades.

What was happening?
What was happening in the spring of 2004 was Ted Hall had come in as the outside chairman, Michael had been ousted, which was humiliating for him, Tim had been sidelined as vice chairman and it looked as though the board was going to strip the Mondavis of their control of the company, so it was a terribly, terribly stressful time for them and for the company as a whole. A lot of people were being laid off.
What also had changed is when Ted Hall became the outside chairman he had retained a very well known financial PR company based in new York and I think that company probably said don't talk to anybody, especially don't talk to Julie. But the fact that they had been so open for so many years made my job easier.

The WSJ story runs, then what happened?
The key thing was the story foreshadowed the fact the company might be sold or broken up. It's a publicly traded company; the stock is going to react to that. It came out two, three days before the Napa Valley Auction, so clearly that added to the pressure the family and the company was already feeling. But that's my job, I'm a financial reporter. I was at that auction and it was for me awkward. My intention certainly was not to hurt anybody but just very clearly lay out what was going on inside the company.

Did you formally meet the Mondavis there?
I went up to Mr. Mondavi and introduced myself and shook his hand and told him I had a lot of respect for him. I think I introduced myself to Margrit, I introduced myself to Tim. Michael was not there as I recall. For me it was a bit like being an anthropologist, this world of the Napa Valley Wine Auction is foreign and exotic to most people. It's beyond their dreams that level of money being devoted to fermented grape juice, so it was fascinating. I know I was an outsider, I know I was perceived as being perhaps someone with a critical eye looking at this, which isn't the norm in the wine industry.

In meeting them in person was anything surprising?
Mr. Mondavi at that point was slowing down and it wasn't clear how aware he was of what was happening so I was surprised by that because as a reporter from the outside there was no indication whatsoever that there was any kind of mental confusion. I knew he had a hearing problem. Margrit was absolutely gracious and it was clear to me at that auction that she was highly regarded and beloved in the community and rightly so, she's a very beautiful, gracious lady and has been extraordinarily generous.
[Tim] seemed very protective of his dad. Knowing what I know now I realize it was an extraordinarily difficult few months for them. I believe there had been a key board meeting either just before the auction or just about to happen in New York which was the key step in their losing control of their company. I can only imagine what they must have been feeling. I don't know what they were feeling and I don't pretend to know unless they told me. The prologue of my book is that auction, that day. Robert rode a golf cart into the auction because he was having trouble walking and then Tim helped him up to the podium.

At what point did you decide to turn their saga into a book?
I received an email from the publisher at Penguin right after the WSJ story ran saying would you consider a book and so I went to the auction knowing that this could be the first chapter of this book and also knowing that something was happening - there was a lot of board room maneuvering going on right then - so I was there as a reporter.

So the book starts from that point on?
No, the book really starts in 1906 when Cesare [Mondavi] comes from Italy and it spans almost 100 years. The first scene takes place at that 2004 auction because that was one of the most difficult moments for the Robert Mondavi family and took place at an auction they helped found, a symbol of their generosity and their giving to the community for so many years, yet at that moment they were on the verge of losing control of their company - I shouldn't say their company because it was a publicly traded company, a company they founded.

How did you do a lot of the historic research, did the family help?
The wine industry is blessed because there is first of all a really wonderful oral history program at the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library, there were oral histories of Robert, of Peter, oral histories of a number of winemakers they worked with over the years, Grgich, Winiarski, some of the vintners and winemakers who were even of an earlier generation are in those oral histories. That was a great place to start.
Luckily the St. Helena Wine Library had a lot of stuff. So there was a lot of interesting material out there already. My job as an author is so much easier than somebody who would have tried to do this project 10 or 20 years ago. For example the Ellis Island Foundation, I could get the actual passenger records from the steamer that Cesare Mondavi took over from Italy to the U.S. and you can see his name, it's really remarkable.
And there were family members who shared a lot of photographs which I'm very grateful for. By the end of this project we talked to more than 250 people all over the world. I went to Italy, I went to Sassoferroto [where Cesare was born]. I spoke to the Frescobaldi family and the Antinori family, interviewed the Baroness Rothschild here and I traveled to Fairport, New York where Richard and Robert Sands [of Constellation] run their wine empire, went into the war room which is the place where they strategized the takeover of Mondavi.

Was there a consensus of the people you spoke to on Mondavi's lasting legacy in the wine world? Is his place in history secure?
His legacy as a tireless pitchman for the Napa Valley, California and the American wine industry is secure, I think it makes no difference that Constellation bought the company he founded. I don't think my book will in any way hurt that legacy I think it will deepen people's understanding of what it took to do what he did, which took a pretty focused, driven personality.

What are some of your favorite anecdotes?
Warren Winiarski was really, really helpful, I went back to him on several occasions, Warren having sort of a professorial view and a very deep knowledge of literature he was helpful in thinking about the battle from literature that might apply. It did resemble King Lear and Warren helped me think it through. As I drove between San Francisco and Napa I listened to a recording of King Lear two or three times to think about it.
Of course King Lear was about an aging king who's dividing his kingdom and his succession issue and his inheritance issues and there are a lot of ways in which what happened to Robert Mondavi can be likened to what happened to King Lear even down to King Lear at the end is mad, Robert Mondavi never went mad but he did suffer from severe mental confusion at times toward the end of my book, which ends in 2005.
One of my absolute favorite stories, and the woman who told me the story has since passed away; she was a French designer and party planner and worked for the Robert Mondavi Winery for a long, long time, worked closely with Margrit. In its heyday the winery used to throw these hard to believe parties, one of my favorite stories from [her] was an Out of Africa party shortly after that movie came out. They shipped in animals, an elephant, cheetah, maybe a lion and even chimpanzees to this big party they were throwing for distributors.
The chimps were pooping and they were worried the chimps were going to poop on the guests so they ended up having to put diapers on the chimpanzees. I have this wonderful picture someone else shared with me of Robert and Margrit and they were feeding champagne to the elephant. They had a lot of fun. People really loved working there.
I think Michael told me a hysterical story about Robert, who was a notoriously speedy driver and well known to the CHP for driving so fast and the story I heard was that Michael got pulled over and the cop said look I'm going to let you off with a warning but make me one promise, promise me that your dad doesn't drive anymore, get him a driver. Speaks to the pace at which he lived his life, which is pretty fast.

So you spoke with Michael?
I spoke with Michael extensively, I spoke with Tim on a number of occasions, it was particularly hard on Tim I think. I spoke with Margrit at least a half a dozen times and I fact checked with all of them. I spoke with [Robert's daughter] Marcy maybe three times in total on the telephone very briefly. I'm not sure I would call those interviews. According to Harvey Posert, I got the last interview with Robert that he gave to anybody and that was in March of 2005. But at that point Robert was not tracking, I didn't use anything from that interview, it didn't seem like the right thing to do.

Do you see a universal appeal for this book because of the family drama or do you think enough people know Mondavi as a wine name that that will draw them in?
I think anybody who's interested in a family saga will be interested in this book. And it's remarkable and it's inspiring too how they created an enterprise that was valued at more than $1 billion over the course of 40 years. There's an enormous number of family businesses in this country and they're very productive but they also carry with them special challenges.
Typically people don't write about family businesses very much because they're so hard to penetrate, to get inside and particularly if you talk about the emotions which I find underlay so many of the dynamics. When you mix work and family into this, it's a lot more challenging. Harvard Business School has written something like five or six case studies on the Mondavi family. I particularly am fascinated with real stories of families and how they work.

Seems that right now there are so many families in Napa and Sonoma grappling with family succession issues because where we are in the history of the wine industry. Do you think there is something specific for them to learn from the Mondavi story?
One clear lesson is that between 1993 when the Mondavis took their company public and 2004, 11 years later, the world had really dramatically changed - with Sarbanes Oxley and with much heavier reporting requirements that that brought about, no one could have anticipated that but looking back on it - but particularly in the wine industry which is so subject to the vagaries of agriculture I think wine companies considering going public should think long and hard about it. It's tough, tough business. That's a lesson that the vast majority of family wineries are not even going to contemplate going public but there is consolidation going on.
A larger issue and a more universal one that might speak not only to wine families but anybody in family business is this notion of a shared dream. Robert had a very clear vision of where he wanted the company to go and how to get there and I think he hoped that somehow his sons would be able to carry that on.
It's pretty clear just from my own perspective that it may have been that wasn't the wisest course and it may have been a better idea to follow the pattern of some of the European wine families at some stage say okay let's step back, we are owners but we're going to let other people manage the business. And as owners we are going to come up with instruction and vote as a bloc and exercise our control as a bloc and the Mondavis never had that kind of agreement amongst themselves to vote as a bloc, which is very unusual and only explained through understanding a very long history that involves a lot of disagreements and a lot of hurt.
This is a story in a sense of a legacy of divorce, too. [Robert's] divorce [from first wife Margie] was very, very painful for Robert's adult children and to this day Michael makes no secret of the fact that he's not exactly Margrit's biggest fan.

Did you get to taste a lot of Mondavi wines throughout your research?
I tasted some, I like Mondavi wines I think they're delicious. One of the things that I was able to do before I wrote the WSJ story was take a tour of Mondavi winery and taste a lot of wines and also over the last couple of years every chance I could get so I could better understand what I was writing about. Particularly right now [Mondavi ] Genevieve [Janssens]'s wines are underrated. They're very good.

Is there anybody like them anymore in terms of the Mondavi University aspect of constant research and innovation?
I know Jess Jackson's hired a lot of very talented former Mondavi people. He seems to have a great eye for talent but it's not clear to me he wants to step into the role that Robert had and not clear there's anyone in the Gallo family yet ready to do that. I don't know. The world is such a different place too. How many wineries are there now in Napa, 300 or 400? It's hard(er) to break out.

Were there things that you kept out of the book because they were too personal?
I was a stranger coming into Napa Valley, I'd written a fairly tough story about a beloved icon that people were upset about yet so many people talked to me and they talked to me because they trusted I would do the right thing. Almost everybody I talked to was on the record but there was an instance of a woman, a former employee of the winery who spoke only on background.
She helped me understand some of the things I'd heard from women in the valley. Robert was a person who loved women and that was a very delicate thing to deal with and I ended up having to talk to Margrit about how she coped with being married to a man who so clearly loved women, loved to be touched by women. Some of what Robert Mondavi might have considered good fun could probably be considered inappropriate and certainly some women I talked to felt that way. I did not focus on that in the book. Margrit felt that she handled it very graciously.

What was [early Mondavi winemaker] Zelma Long's take, she was there so early, a woman winemaker given that position, she must have been one of the first.
She was given a fantastic opportunity. The other side of Robert loving women, he was also one of the first to give women opportunities like Zelma Long and a succession of very talented women after that. She told me wonderful stories of going to Europe with Robert and Margrit to understand how European winemakers were doing it and the sheer energy and exuberance, the funny things that happened, a bus got lost and Margrit was able to translate and ask directions in three or four different languages.
Margrit was a wonderful asset to Robert in so many ways and Zelma also had deep insight into the dynamics of Robert and his sons because Zelma was there when Tim was just about to become winemaker and Robert was tough on his sons, extremely tough on them and he would make Tim in particular cry. That's a terrible position to be in as the boss's son. Zelma remembers stories like that.

Is Mondavi the most famous wine name in America? What about outside of America?
Gallo is a pretty famous name. But Mondavi was a pioneer in having partnerships with the Rothschilds, Frescobaldis, with wineries in Australia. Credit is due to Robert for that. He is remarkable, I wish I had known him, met him in the 1990s when he was still at his peak.

How much did the James Conaway book [The Far Side of Eden: New Money, Old Land, and the Battle for Napa Valley, published in 2002] hurt you?
Oh it hurt a lot because there were a lot of people who were very wary of talking to a reporter after Jim's book. In this case every single principal I went back to and fact checked, I don't think they are going to be surprised by anything although particularly in a situation like this in 2004 and 2005 things were so emotionally charged that looking back on it now as they begin to reinvent themselves, they probably wish they had let a lot of that go.

Is there a movie in this?
I don't know. I know that one of the investment bankers for Constellation joked that this is a real life Falcon Crest and there are elements of a soap opera or family epic, the Thornbirds, but they're real people and whose story is it? I tried to be a very straight, WSJ-style writer in approaching this. If they didn't say it I didn't make it up. If I couldn't find out what they said I didn't' put it in the book. The people who started this industry are strong people, they're remarkable and if you look closely at people who are pioneers or very driven entrepreneurs there's some pain behind that drive and certainly that was the case with Robert Mondavi.

Do you think you would have gotten that call if this was about textiles or semiconductors?
No, wine is so glamorous, the glamour, the romance of wine, the Napa Valley. It's aspiration, people want to imagine. Robert Mondavi of course had been on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, he and Margrit had built their house on Wappo Hill and Robin Leach had a helicopter circling above his estate. There was a lot of glamour associated with his lifestyle and the wine. He was so handsome.

I've recently discovered a website called Meetup.com. It's a site where you can join, or even start, a local group with an interest in a particular topic. Now while I went to the site looking for clubs to practice speaking foreign languages, I came across a multitude of wine groups. Most of them are hosted by wine stores, and offer monthly tastings (and sometimes food pairings as well) to the members for a nominal fee.

There are groups on here for all kinds of other things too, from dog lovers to fitness freaks to book clubs. Personally I'm always looking for a new way to get out there and meet other people that love wine. Give it a shot and see what kind of groups there are in your area.

I had the opportunity recently to celebrate the birthday of one of my good friends at the Melting Pot in Colorado Springs. Being a lover of fondue, I knew I was going to enjoy the food. However I was also pleasantly surprised by their wine selection.

In the center of the restaurant is a rather impressive wine cooler, that not only adds to the dining ambiance, but assures you that you will have a multitude of wines to choose from with your dinner. My friend Melissa and I decided to go with the 4 course meal that they offer (cheese, salad, meat, and chocolate), as well as the wine flight that goes along with each course. At the time we were there they were offering a fantastic flight of 4 white wines.

The wines were (in order):

• Giminez 2005 (Argentina)
• Heinz Schmitt 2005 Halbtrocken (Germany)
• Tolosa 2005 "No Oak" Chardonnay (California)
• Airlie 7 2005 (Oregon - 7 grape blend)

All of them were truly excellent, and paired extremely well. Though somewhat prepackaged, I was also impressed with what the waitstaff knew about the wines they were serving. It at least gave the impression that they had tasted the wines themselves.

There are several meaderies in Colorado, and Spruce Mountain Meadery in Larkspur is definitely one of the best. If you've never tried mead, I would recommend giving it a shot, you might be surprised.

Mead, also known as honey wine, is a very old and traditional drink dating back to 1700 B.C. It is a fermented drink made of honey, water, and yeast. The name comes from "meadhing" which is the process of brewing honey. Spruce Mountain Meadery considers itself a "micro-winery" that handcrafts their meads in small batches. They also pasteurize their meads so that there is no need to add sulfites.

At the Manitou Springs Wine Festival, the meadery was offering a trio: a Traditional Honey Wine, a fruit mead (Blackberry Honey Wine), and a spiced mead (Honey Wine with Cinnamon and Nutmeg). I've tried several of their meads previously at other festivals, so it was somewhat of a given that I would give them another taste. Now if you've read any of my reviews in the past you'll know that I'm quite fond of sweet wine, so the honey wine is also a favorite of mine. Some wines made from things other than grapes taste like little more than fruit juice, but mead possesses much more character than that.

Let me tell you a bit about the Traditional Honey Wine. The texture of the mead is quite thick in the mouth, it has the "chewy" feeling of dessert wine. It appears slightly thicker to the eye as well, not as crisp and clear as a white wine would look, but with the same type of hay color to it. The aroma is very homey and warm, it reminds me a lot of sitting by the fire with a cup of tea (probably because I put so much honey in my tea!). Mead is a fantastic drink for doing just that, cozying up by the fire on a rainy, cold day. You might even try warming it up a bit, especially the spiced mead, much like you'd do with a mulled cider.

The second of my "best of the best" from the Manitou Wine Festival is Augustina's Winery. In specific, their WineChick White and Boulder Backpacking Wine.

Augustina's Winery is located in Boulder, and shares the same outlook on wine that most Boulder residents have about life. The winery's philosophy states it is "dedicated to making wine that goes with backpacking adventures, raucous poker parties, family barbecues, good mystery novels, and gingersnaps." The winery is owned by Marianne "Gussie" Walter, and is a self-proclaimed "one woman winery."

The wines are produced from Colorado grown grapes from three small, family vineyards in the Palisade and Grand Junction area. The winery itself is located in Boulder's old warehouse district, and is surrounded by everything from artists and musicians to mechanics and restaurants. The winery is open for tours and tastings, but calling before is recommended.

WineChick White is a blend of Riesling, Gewürtztraminer, and Viognier. It's a fruity and light wine that goes down very easily. A perfect wine for summer picnics and BBQ's.

Boulder Backpacking Wine is a Cabernet Franc that's warm and earthy, and really would be perfect after a long day of hiking or really any kind of outdoor adventure.

Both wines are extremely affordable. In fact, none of the wines produced at Augustina's are over $20, and most are closer to $10. The wines can be found at farmer's markets throughout the Denver area through the summer, as well as at several wine festivals (check here for more information).

My favorite pick from this year's Manitou Springs Wine Festival is Desert Moon Vineyards 2005 Fireside Ruby. The Fireside Ruby is a port wine, made from a Cabernet Sauvignon grape.

Port is a type of fortified wine, made by adding alcohol to the wine during fermentation to stop the process and increase the alcohol content. Fortified wines were originally developed when ship's crews wanted to bring wine on their sea voyages. When wine is stored on a ship with the movement of the ocean and the extreme temperatures, it inevitably turns the wine into vinegar. Thus port was developed as a wine that can stand up to those conditions.

Located in the Grand Valley, the first AVA (American Viticulture Area) in Colorado, Desert Moon Vineyards began in 2002 when the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted. However the farm has existed since the late 60's when it was known as the Groovy View Apricot Orchard. The name Desert Moon Vineyards came from the view of the vineyard bathed in moonlight on a summer night, as the moon rose over the Grand Mesa.

Desert Moon's Fireside Ruby is a warm and intense port, that evokes caramel and cherry flavors. It's quite strong, especially if you're not used to drinking port. However I believe that it's a fantastically rich and wonderful port. At the wine festival there were dark chocolate pieces served alongside the tastings of Fireside Ruby, and it was definitely a superb pairing. Chocolate and port are always a good match, but it truly intensifies the flavors in the Fireside Ruby while mellowing out the intensity of the alcohol.

Desert Moon wines are available in several locations across the Front Range. You can find a map of locations here. Unfortunately none of the locations are in Colorado Springs, but it would be worth the drive to Denver to give their wines a try. The bottles are reasonably priced in the mid-range (the Fireside Port was $16 a bottle). The vineyard also produces a very good Riesling, Semillon, Rose of Cabernet, and a red blend called Altitude.

Today was the annual Manitou Springs Wine Festival, and I have to say that it was quite an event. For $25 admission, you received a wine glass etched with the festival's logo and a tote for carrying wine bottles that you purchased, and quite a few people were purchasing bottles that day. All of the wines featured were from Colorado wineries, and some of them were really excellent wines.

Here is a list of the wineries in attendance:

• Amber Ridge Vineyards www.amberridgevineyards.com
• Augustina's Winery www.winechick.biz
• Balistreri Vineyards www.balistreriwine.com
• Bonacquisti Wine Company www.denverwine.net
• Bookcliff Vineyards www.bookcliffvineyards.com
• Colorado Cellars www.coloradocellars.com
• Concetta Cellars www.concettacellars.com
• Cottonwood Cellars www.cottonwoodcellars.com
• Desert Moon Vineyards www.desertmoonvineyards.com
• Garfield Estates Vineyards www.garfieldestates.com
• Guy Drew Vineyards www.guydrewvineyards.com
• Mesa Grade Vineyards www.mesagrandevineyards.com
• Mountain View Winery www.mountainviewwinery.com
• Pikes Peak Vineyards
• Redstone Meadery www.redstonemeadery.com
• Spero Winery
• Spruce Mountain Meadery www.sprucemountainmeadery.com
• Stoney Mesa Winery www.stoneymesa.com
• St. Kathryn Cellars/Meadery of the Rockies www.st-kathryn-cellars.com
• Turquoise Mesa Winery www.turquoisemesawinery.com
• Two Rivers Winery www.tworiverswinery.com
• White Water Hill Vineyards www.whitewaterhill.com

And I'll tell you right now, that I have very definite opinions on every single winery that was there. Over the next few days I'm going to be posting reviews of the wines that I thought really stood out from the crowd. There were quite a few wines that I tasted today that were really nothing special, there were also some that were really horrible and some that were really excellent. Stay tuned for my list of the "best of the best."