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ContinuumTIMMONDAVI

In 2004, the Mondavi’s were losing theirfamily winery, patiently built by

California legend, Robert Mondavi. ForTim, his son, this was more than a slightinjury. He had been winemaker andenologist at the Mondavi domaine for

more than 30 years and couldn’t envisagelife without vineyards on the horizon. So, he began again, replanting his rootsin the hills of Napa Valley. Continuum or

the history of a second chance.

BY ORIANNE NOUAILHAC PHOTOS STEVEN ROTHFELD

« ONE PURPOSE, ONE WINE, ONE ESTATE, ONE FAMILY »

TimMondaviand hisdaughterChiara.

THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED

IN #23 - WINTER 2015-2016VIGNERON

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His face has changed very littledespite the years and the chal-lenges. His large white beard,which gives him the air of awise vigneron, frames his pas-sionate features, empathizing

his every smile, expressing his everymood. Tim Mondavi is now a happyman. Resilient, he stood up to fate. Sonof Robert Mondavi, California legend,Tim walked the family vineyards forthirty years and those of all their globalpartners. From Bordeaux to Tuscany,from Chile to Australia, he spoke thelanguage of the vine, an oenologist al-ways respected by his peers. Yet excel-lence in the vineyard and winery werenot always matched by the financial ex-pectations. By the end of the last cen-tury, business decisions were often de-cided by those sitting in large offices,far from the vineyards, affecting thestrategy and ultimately the fate of theRobert Mondavi Winery (RMW). Apublicly traded company, RMW beganto lose focus and then control in a raceagainst time that brought Constella-tion Brands in to buy the winery for1 billion dollars in 2004. Robert Mon-davi, creator and patriarch, experien-ced a terrible, rude awakening in thelast years of his life. For his children,though it differed, it was still a tragicand difficult time. Michael chose busi-ness and trading, founding his own bu-siness. But Tim, Marcia and Robertwere inconsolable at their loss and sojoined efforts to start from scratch andcreated Continuum the following year.In 2008 they finally acquired the vinesrequired to plant their roots again. Theestate, on Pritchard Hill, is their land,an untamed place of telluric energywhere one finds wild garrigue amongthe rows of vines set high on the moun-tain side. High altitude sounds, the callof the wind, the song of the birds, and

often a deep resonant silence bewitchthe senses. Here, Tim lives in contactwith the volcanic red soils that seemnot to suffer from the extreme droughtraging for past four years in Napa Val-ley. At dusk he breathes in the cool airthat settles on the vines as the sun setsand the estate settles down for thenight. After all he has experienced, heconsiders himself a winegrower ratherthan a winemaker, for the vineyard iseverything to him. Yet Tim finds a simi-lar passion energy in the cellar, a beauti-ful orange-ocher temple designed byHoward Backen, architect of HarlanEstate, of Bond, Kenzo Estate and PaulHobbs Winery. Here, the same astoni-shing resonance, with the volcanicrocks found in the winery wall mirro-ring those in the hillside vineyard..Huge sliding doors open to Taransaudand François Frères oak casks as well ascement vessels. Grandness and ele-gance combined. The landscapesstrength evidence the natural and ma-jestic beauty of this unique estate. Thewinery resembles the estate or is it thereverse? Chiara, one of Tim’s five children, joinsus. She is the artist of the family follo-wing in her father’s footsteps. She crea-ted the estate painting, an old vine, a si-lhouette of a cabernet franc vinecaptured at sunset, which serves as thelabel of Continuum. The original work,Light of the Vine, welcomes you uponyour arrival. A warmth and a rustic ele-gance are both evident in the tastingroom, also showing as we taste the 2012vintage, at a table made of an old tree,wild yet refined. The 2012 reveals blackfruit, blackberry, and strong coffee aro-mas, while the wine, still young , is deli-ciously opulent. The 2006, whosegrapes were not from Pritchard Hill, al-ready shows a beautiful maturity, rosepetals and a touch of licorice offsetting

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AT PRITCHARD HILL, WILDVINEYARD WITH TELLURICENERGY, TIM MONDAVICOMES ALIVE AGAIN IN CONTACT WITH THEVOLCANIC RED SOILS.The wine

storehousemerged into

nature, drawn by HarlanEstate’s

architect.

Family Sundaylunch underthe hundred-year old olivetrees plantedin tribute to

RobertMondavi.

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« MAKING WINEELSEWHERE, AS I FIRST ENVISAGED,

WAS NOT FACING MYTRUTH, IT WAS

FLEEING FROM IT. »

black fruit and cocoa. Tim Mondavi,like his wines, ages without arroganceor attitude. He dedicates his time toContinuum whose cult status is well es-tablished in California with only a fewshort years behind it. Every harvest, heorganizes a blessing of the grapes by aCatholic priest and a Protestant pastor,a tradition established by his father Robert to honor and thank the earth forits fruits.It is said that the second life isoften the right one. To Tim Mondavi,thankful and grateful for this newchance, this is obvious.

Continuum: this is a complexname, which carries with it both the past and future...Yes, the word “Continuum” was notrandomly selected. It delivers the mes-sage of our desire to continue what mygrandfather, Cesare, began soon afterleaving Minnesota in 1919 for the Gol-

den State and what my father did crea-ting Robert Mondavi Winery in Oak-ville. My grandfather was tradinggrapes during Prohibition but his firstwines, in fact, were “officially” produ-ced in 1933. My father worked withhim for thirty years before launchingRobert Mondavi Winery in 1966 at theage of 53 years. For my part, I workedthirty years also with my father beforecreating Continuum ... at the age of 53years! You see, we experience all kindsof continuums!

Your motto, “One purpose, one wine, one estate, one family” is also a singular story.When Robert Mondavi Winery wassold in 2004, my sister and I, Marcia,felt a deep sadness. It was the first timewe were without vines in our lives. Itquickly became apparent that we couldnot renounce this passion and Conti-

Its altitude of 400meters places thevineyard above thefog line coming fromthe Pacific Coast.

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nuum is the fruit of this evidence. Ourgoal [“One purpose”] to produce a wine:this is our pursuit of excellence tocreate a first Grand Cru of California.An estate: the one we patiently soughtand found on Pritchard Hill. A family:three generations from the start andnow the 4th generation embarks withus, my five children and Marcia’s twochildren present within the company.Every day, four of my five children joinme at the estate: Carissa who directscommunication, Carlo who managesthe West Coast market, Dante managesthe East Coast and Chiara who workswith me in the vineyard and the winery.

Yet you were away for a few monthsafter the sale, they even talked about your possible “exile” inSonoma to produce pinot noir. You finally could not resist Napa?We do not easily give up our roots... Re-settling in an area that I know intima-tely, Napa Valley, allowed me to alsoheal the wound from the loss of our fa-mily company and to repair it too. Ma-king wine elsewhere, as I first envisa-ged, was not facing my truth, it wasfleeing from it. Here, on the contrary,we are given the chance to continue thegoal of excellence, begun by Cesareand Robert Mondavi. I realized I had toreplant our roots in this land.

Much has been written on the “Fall” of the Mondavi winery, which, perhaps, has marked thefamily spirit. Could you give yourversion of events?I’ve talked a lot and I confess today Iwant to leave this behind me, behind us,to focus our energy on Continuum. ButI will say this: Robert Mondavi Winerybegan trading on the stock market in1993 and business decisions approvedby the RMW Board of Directors misu-

sed my father’s name and began to ruinour reputation. We went from a long-term vision to a short-term one dictatedby finance, aggravated by anxious boardmembers who knew nothing growingand producing great wines and the spe-cific management requirements relatedto them. The lack of vision and clarity atthe top brought confusion to our custo-mers and then bad decisions were madewhich led to an impossible situation. Anexperienced but ruthless new chairmanof the board was brought in to help re-balance RMW but in reality he simplymade everything look good in order tosell it to Richard Sands, the boss ofConstellation Brands. [To poor manage-ment decisions, also add family tensionswhich had threatened the Mondavi foun-dation. When he no longer had the power tocontrol the company, Robert Mondavi resi-gned from the Board as did his son Michael.The only family members left were Tim andMarcia to attend the fateful final boardmeeting in 2004 when it took only twelveminutes for the board to accept Constella-tion Corporation’s offer. By then, the familyno longer had enough votes to object, ed.]

I imagine this was a difficult timeafter the family left RMW... After leaving Robert Mondavi Winery,I especially felt that we needed to re-claim our name, explain who we wereand clarify our intentions. I think peo-ple knew, basically, who my father was,but the company’s mishaps had dispel-led this clarity. We were now moreknown for making small supermarketwines or for making great wines likeRobert Mondavi Reserve, Opus Oneand Ornellaia. [Robert Mondavi Winerywas, at the time of sale, owner of Tenutadell’Ornellaia in Tuscany and 50% ownerof Opus One, which Robert Mondavifounded with the Baron Philippe de Roth-schild, ed.] Now, with Continuum, peo-

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« IN 2004, MY SISTER AND I,MARCIA, FELT A DEEPSADNESS. IL WAS THE FIRSTTIME WE WERE WITHOUTVINES IN OUR LIVES. »

Chiara and Tim taste the 2015 fruits.

Above, a workillustrating the

vocanic stone andred soils in thetasting room.

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ple can see we have a very long-termgoal in the same spirit of excellencewhich drove Opus and Ornellaia.

For the first few years, Continuumwas produced from purchasedgrapes, until the time was right tobuild this new estate and winery.Indeed, since the first vintage in 2005,our wine was produced with grapes including the great terroir To Kalon.Then in 2008 we spotted this amazingplace we were able to acquire on Pritchard Hill, above Lake Hennessey.Tasting wines here, I understood thepotential and especially the sense ofplace that was conducive to my goal.We had to be on elevated soil, hillside,on the east side of the Valley. We alsoneeded the good soil: volcanic, rich in iron. I have a feeling that here wehave the perfect combination of soil,exposure and climate. The terroir:

volcanic gravel on clay, which absorbswater well is an asset with the drought.At an altitude of about 400 meters, this allows a more moderate climate. It’s above the fog line coming from the coast and nights are very cool, preserving the vineyard, whose oldest vines date back to 1991. I made drastic selections, replanted,uprooted Syrah wines to substitutewith Cabernet Sauvignon and Caber-net Franc, to work the exposure. The 2013 is the first vintage of Conti-nuum with Pritchard Hill grapes,“grown, produced, aged and bottled at the domaine.” It’s a “Bordelaise” blend:cabernet sauvignon (66%), cabernetfranc (21%), petit verdot (9%) andmerlot (4%). Each year, 25 to 30% of our lots are declassified and are not used in the wine because we believe they are not at the desired quality level.

« THE WINE WEARS THIS BRAND: IT IS

PRESENT BUT WITHOUTVULGARITY, IT’S IMPOSING

BUT IN CONTROL ANDWITHOUT OSTENTATION.CABERNET SAUVIGNON

IS VERY HAPPY HERE IN THE VALLEY. »

Light of theVine, Chiara’s

work, hasbecome theemblem ofContinuum.

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How does this wine express its terroir?It represents Napa Valley first but also the identity of a specific place that is both wild, like the sage thatgrows on edges of the vineyard, and ba-lanced. This wine wears this brand: it ispresent but without vulgarity, it’s imposing but in control and without ostentation. Cabernet Sauvi-gnon is very happy here in the Valley, it adapts itself to the warmer or cooleryears, it has the structure and power ne-cessary for our assembly base. Cabernet Franc is a grape that I love.When I test old Robert Mondavi Reserve wines, I’ve notice that I’m im-pressed the most by those that have a high percentage of cabernet franc. Itsfloral aromas are unique, the silkinessthat’s develop with aging is wonderful.Merlot, can be too strong on the valleyfloor, hence its absence in the first

wines Continuum produced withgrapes from To Kalon, but I have a longhistory with this grape I know how to let it sing. And on the Napa hillsides,especially here on Pritchard Hill, itshows a very valuable silkiness and integrates perfectly in the assembly, it brings its structure. Petit Verdot is ne-wer to my vocabulary. We had neither Malbec nor Petit Verdot at Robert Mondavi. At first I found Petit Verdot rather vulgar but as timepassed, I realized that it brings somestrength with its wild nose and its beautiful color. Of these four grape varieties, we currently have 15 hectaresin production on a property of 70 hectares, with 9 hectares, with addi-tional plantings in 2010 and 2013. Wecontinue to learn every day of this incredible place; we have over thirtyblocks, each with distinct personalities.All are grown naturally.

« WE HAD TO BE ONELEVATED SOIL, HILLSIDE,ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE VALLEY. I HAVE AFEELING THAT HERE WEHAVE THE PERFECTCOMBINATION OF SOIL,EXPOSURE AND CLIMATE. »

Talk about a powerful and balanced wine. Napa has a longhistory of producing big wines, wines that are oaked, in accordancewith Robert Parker’s palate. How do you see the future herewithout his influence?It’s the markets themselves, Americanand Bordeaux, which gave Robert Par-ker this excessive influence. I love theman and he has an incredible palate butit is his palate and it’s not a universalone, and it is simply not healthy to givea single person the power to dictate thestyle that Cabernet Sauvignon shouldhave! We need more references. Themore tasters, the better, whether Jo-shua Greene (Wine & Spirits Maga-zine), who likes more vibrant wines,Stephen Tanzer (International WineCellar) or Antonio Galloni yet (Vi-nous) which have a preference for winewith more acidity and nerve. After all,there are as many types of wine as pa-lates on Earth.

Bordeaux was highly criticized in the United States for excessiveprices. Yet the Napa Valley is not free of this: its fine wines are now very expensive. Has the price become a criteria for wine classification? Do not be naive: it is obvious and wedid not invent anything. From the clas-sification of 1855, which was establi-shed if I’m correct on the basis of theprice of wine sales, it has an essentialrole. Your pricing implies a quality inthe wine you produce. I also must addthat the greatest wines of the Napa havea very low yield compared to the grea-test wines of Bordeaux. In fact, Conti-nuum is around 200 dollars and this isin the base range for major “Bordeauxblends”. This allows us to be exactlywhere we want to be and recognized on

the international market. The exportmarket, representing 25% of our pro-duction, is already well established,where historically Robert Mondavi didwell: Japan, Hong Kong, Germany,Switzerland...

As director of the winemaking from 1976 to 2004 at Robert Mondavi Winery, you also had many global experiences, producing wines from US to Italy to Chile and beyond. The defining moments? I was lucky to taste with the likes ofHenri Jayer, Lucien Sionneau [MoutonRothschild] and Lodovico Antinori.When the latter wanted to separatehimself from Tenuta dell’Ornellaia and we were in the ranks, I tried toconvince not to sell. It is such a gem!But he said he liked only one thing: to create, and then he wasn’t amused by the managing of a domaine ... Hetrusted us to take care of Ornellaia.That was in 2002. Two years later weknow what happened.Another time I was deeply marked: A trip to Europe with my father in 1973 that concluded years of study at the University of Davis. We tasted a lot of wines and my father kept asking each of them technical ques-tions, it was exciting. One morning we arrived at Louis Trapet in Gevrey-Chambertin. He hoisted a star span-gled banner alongside a tricolor flagand removed his cap to greet us, placed it on his heart, saying: “You savedus, you Americans. Welcome to my home; it is an honor.” The ritual question my father would invariably asked: “How do you manage to make this wine?” LouisTrapet, like all other Burgundy wine-growers we had met before him, hadresponded with humility: “Me, I’ve donenothing in fact it’s the sky, the ground,

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With Marcia, theroots found again.

On the right,Chiara in grape-harvesting time.

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« “IF I HAVE SEENFURTHER THAN OTHERS,IT IS BY STANDING UPON

THE SHOULDERS OFGIANTS.” TODAY IT’S MYTURN TO STAND ON MYFATHER’S SHOULDERS. »

God ...” My father would leave everytime flabbergasted, because in theStates, it’s a safe bet that a person wouldrespond differently, before recountingin great detail or that how they madethe wine and their method to do so... It’s a memory that we often talked andwe would always remark on it, evenyears later.

Your father would have been100 years old in 2013. You paid tribute to him here on Pritchard Hill... Indeed, we launched the constructionof the winery in 2010 so that it would be completed to accommodatethe 2013 harvest and celebrate his100th birthday. Olive trees surroun-ding the winery are also a century old, they were planted in his honor. Before passing away in 2008, my father saw Pritchard Hill. We took

a small aircraft with my sister to showhim the land we had purchased. He had lost the ability to speak but hissmile and his eyes could tell us of his approval.

What’s your father’s legacy to you?I owe him everything: his philosophy,his audacity! I hope to live up to it.When I’m asked about this relations-hip, this always reminds me of IsaacNewton’s famous quote: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standingupon the shoulders of giants.” Today it’s my turn to stand on his shouldersand try to see far ahead. I recently realized that a negative - the loss of our family business - can come out well - Continuum-, because I have never been happier. I am now in fullsymbiosis with this land, my vision andmy role as winemaker. My dream hascome true. e