Robert Mondavi is fond of saying, "Wine has been with us since the beginning of civilization. It is

In 1966, Robert G. Mondavi founded the Robert Mondavi Winery to create wines in California that belong in the company of the world's finest.

Leader in Innovation
In the late 1960s, the winery helped introduce cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and the use of small French oak barrels to the nascent California wine industry. It also pioneered a number of natural farming practices in the vineyard to protect both employees and the environment.

Over the years innovations have continued. In 1993, the winery introduced the revolutionary flange-top bottle to create a more environmentally friendly, capsule-free package. This design has since been widely replicated throughout the industry.

Arts, Culture and Wine
To share their tradition of celebrating wine, food and the arts, the Robert Mondavi family has always encouraged visitors to its winery. The winery created tours and tastings to enhance visitors' appreciation of fine wine. Concerts, art exhibits and other cultural events followed, including the first Annual Summer Music Festival as a fundraiser for the Napa Valley Symphony in 1969. Literary presentations and in-depth programs on topics such as California Wine History, and Wine, Art and Civilization are ongoing. The Great Chefs program, established in 1976, was the first winery culinary program held in America.

Research and Experimentation
For the past decade, the Robert Mondavi Winery has been devoted to vineyard and winery research. Using progressive natural farming techniques and extensive high-density plantings, the winery has invested more than $50 million in replanting the Napa Valley vineyards to ideal rootstocks, varieties, clones and trellising systems. Since 1993, the Robert Mondavi Winery has collaborated with NASA to apply advanced remote sensing technologies in vineyard management.

Looking to the Future
Today the Robert Mondavi Winery is under the direction of Robert's son, Tim Mondavi, Managing Director and Winegrower. The winemaking focus begins in the vineyards and finds its expression through a portfolio of fine wines. In early 1999, the Robert Mondavi Winery launched the To Kalon Project, the first major renovation in its history. Due to be completed in 2001, the $27 million renovation project maintains the integrity of the original mission-style architecture, designed by Cliff May, while creating the ideal Cabernet Sauvignon winemaking facility.

Today, the vineyard is planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, though additional grape varieties include Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. While many of the vines within To Kalon were replanted this past decade due to phylloxera, some sections of the vineyard are as old as 55 years in age. The I-Block section of the vineyard, for example, was planted in 1945 and is believed to be the oldest planting of Sauvignon Blanc vines in the New World.

The newer, post-phylloxera plantings of the vineyard incorporate a number of innovations that are yielding exceptionally high-quality fruit, even at young ages. These innovations include high-density plantings that focus the energy of the vine into smaller, more flavorful grape clusters and ultimately produce better wines.

Wappo Hill Vineyard
Located within the Stags Leap District, this 400-acre vineyard was acquired by the Robert Mondavi family in 1969. Located in the southeastern area of Napa Valley, with the jagged palisades of the Stags Leap Ridge to the east, the Stags Leap District has long been renowned for producing excellent Bordeaux variety wines. The steep eastern cliffs retain and reflect the afternoon sun, while breezes from nearby San Pablo Bay maintain cool morning and evening temperatures. The gravelly and clay loam soils -- combined with these climatic conditions -- help create the distinctive character of the wines from this region. Accordingly, Robert Mondavi Winery has planted its vineyard here primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot vines.

Huichica Hills Vineyard
This 420-acre vineyard purchased by the Robert Mondavi family in 1988 is located in the cool Carneros District that straddles the Napa and Sonoma counties to the south of the city of Napa. The strong winds, foggy mornings and cooler marine climate of this region make Huichica Hills an ideal vineyard for the winery's Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and selected Merlot plantings. The nutrient-lean, well-drained clay loam soils foster low vigor vines that yield small amounts of concentrated fruit and wines of excellent quality.

Planning for the project started in October of 1996 and work began in January of 1999. Winemaking facilities were ready for the 2000 harvest, and construction was completed in March 2001.

The To Kalon project brings several new facilities to the winery: a Reception Room, Gravity Flow Winery, To Kalon Fermentation Cellar, First-Year Barrel Cellar, new tasting rooms, and the wine shop, Le Marche.

The gentle, gravity-flow method uses nature's own power to move wine from crush to fermentation to barrel aging. In the new facility, grapes harvested into small containers are elevated to the mezzanine level for hand sorting. From there they are destemmed and crushed directly into the upright oak fermenters located on the mezzanine level of the new facility. The bottom level of the 20,000 square-foot structure is the underground first-year barrel cellar, with 1,300 barrels stretching the entire length of the cellar in rows one barrel high. This arrangement ensures that barrel operations, such as filling, topping, and racking, can be accomplished without disturbing the wine

Taransaud Cooperage brings three centuries of experience to crafting barrels and tanks from seasoned French oak. The coopers worked hand-in-hand with Robert Mondavi Winery Managing Director and Winegrower Tim Mondavi and his winemaking team to design oak fermenters to the winery's specifications.

Oak provides the necessary temperature stability for fermenting red wine, and the porosity of wood allows an ongoing slow micro-oxidation during fermentation and maceration, softening and polishing tannins and adding structure.

This characteristic of oak fermentation is particularly well suited to To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon's unique personality. Oak fermentation also contributes subtle depth of flavor, making wine accessible sooner while imparting great aging potential.

Directly beneath the new To Kalon Fermentation Cellar is the new, first-year barrel cellar for Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Its underground location provides ideal temperature, humidity and air conditions for the storage of wine. Here, 1,300 barrels stretch the entire length of the cellar in rows one barrel high. This arrangement ensures that barrel operations, such as filling, topping, and racking, can be accomplished without disturbing the wine.

With the addition of a new mezzanine level, the former barrel room houses the second-year Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve barrels, with a special area for Fumé Blanc Reserve