Robert Mondavi, who died Friday May 16, 2008, at the age of 94 was a mentor, friend and above all, ambassador to all in the wine industry and especially wineries in the Napa Valley.

Mondavi, born in Virginia, MN., to parents who emigrated from the Marche region of Italy, was largely influenced by Old World traditions. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in economics and business administration, and an understanding that marketing was as critical as winemaking expertise in achieving success in the wine industry.

He eventually went to work with his father at Charles Krug winery. In 1962 he was dismissed and in 1966 started his own winery. Of course that was a tremendous success, but not enough for Mondavi.

His goal was to combine European craft and tradition with the latest in American technology, management and marketing expertise. He put Napa Valley on the wine world map alongside the great winemaking areas in Europe.

He and his sons, Michael and Tim, who worked with him for many years, always held to the Old World vision of wine’s place at the table. The Mondavis made all types of wine from petite sirahs and zinfandels to pinot noirs and chardonnays, and from jug wines to top-notch cabernet sauvignons, which due to its reputation is still their top seller.

Mondavi pioneered many fine winemaking techniques in California, including cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and the use of French oak barrels. A sales and marketing leader, he was responsible for popularizing dry-fermented oak-aged sauvignon blanc as fumé blanc — a move now acknowledged as the catalyst for the recognition of this grape variety in America. Mondavi also initiated blind tastings in the Napa Valley, allowing consumers and the trade to evaluate wine quality.

As a missionary for Napa Valley Mondavi promoted not just his own wines but those of his neighbors and the region in general. “My passion for bringing wine into the American culture was motivated by a desire to plant deep into the soil of our young country the same values, traditions and daily pleasures that my mother and father had brought with them from central Italy: good food, good wine and love of family,” Mondavi wrote in his 1998 autobiography, “Harvests of Joy.”

An uncompromising perfectionist, Mondavi was guided by his belief: “If you wish to succeed, you must listen to yourself, to your own heart, and have the courage to go your own way.” He became a philanthropist, donating millions to create both the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at UC Davis, and Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, in Napa, www.copia.org, www.robertmondaviwinery.com.

Mondavi will be sorely missed and remembered always. Let’s raise our glass and toast to him. Thank you for your love and passion of wine, and all you have done for the California wine industry. Dum vivimus vivamus. Let us live while we live. Lori