Invented the practice of bottling Franzia and reselling it for 100X price as “Opus One”

No this isn’t another rant about Mondavi. He passed away last week.

His funeral opened with a nice bouquet and there were hints of cinnamon and currant, with a smooth yet delicate earthy finish.

One of the first things I learned about wine: Mondavi sucks. The Wall Street Journal has a nice writeup explaining why the biggest name became a big flop.

“But by early 2004, Robert Mondavi Corp.’s reputation for high-quality wines had eroded, and the House of Mondavi was rent by conflict. His hand-picked successor, son Michael, had been removed as chairman, and the Mondavi family was on the brink of losing control of the company. Indeed, behind Michael’s ouster was a closely guarded secret: Robert faced a personal financial crisis that threatened to embarrass him and destroy his leg”

Link to article

Not many wine snobs share my love of Valpolicella. Thats fine by me, it keeps the prices low.

Over at wine library TV they featured the Corvina grape and I’m glad to know that there are other people that love it as much as I do. Its versatile and fruity enough for the casual wine drinker but complex enough for the snobbish if they can overcome that its not cabernet.

Click Here for the episode.