Wine Chronicles: Mondavi’s Reopening Bets Big on Luxury and Scale
By Dan Berger
Summary: A three-year renovation has transformed Robert Mondavi Winery’s longtime Oakville tasting room into a vastly expanded hospitality complex designed to handle large crowds with ease. The project, backed by owner Constellation Brands, adds multiple tasting stations, upgraded concert seating and an enlarged kitchen aimed at pairing food and wine at volume. Dan Berger frames the reopening as both a statement of Napa’s luxury trajectory and a reflection of Mondavi’s enduring brand gravity in California wine. He also highlights that the timing lands awkwardly amid weak wine sales, layoffs and widening economic strain.
Readers might also enjoy Berger’s recent wine writing in Sonoma County Features and Lake County Features.
OAKVILLE, Calif. — About 50 years ago, former NFL quarterback Ron Miller and his wife, Diane Disney Miller, acquired a hilly property just west of the Silverado Trail north of Napa. They intended to grow grapes for fine wine, but almost instantly some locals began to joke that the project was going to be what they called Disneyland North. Diane Miller was the daughter of Walt Disney.
As it turned out, and as it continues to be, the eventual Silverado Vineyards has probably been one of the quietest operations in the entire valley, with a gorgeous and extremely subtle winery building in Stag’s Leap that’s almost invisible. And Silverado continues to produce truly world-class wine. It typically flies far under the radar.
This past Thursday, Disneyland North finally arrived in Napa. It is located at the Robert Mondavi Winery, which has been here in Oakville since 1966. But a recent renovation (some estimates say that it cost $200 million) was so carefully designed — and so large — that it instantly becomes one of Napa Valley’s most important tasting-room operations.
The Mondavi name reaches far and wide. A possibly apocryphal story says that in about 1990 an English wine journalist asked a bunch of locals in a London wine bar if they could name an American appellation. According to the tale, one said Napa, but no one else came close to mentioning an actual appellation. The closest other guess was “Mondavi.”
So important is the Mondavi name when it comes to discussing California wine that the Mondavi tasting room in Oakville has always been one of the Napa Valley’s most visited hospitality rooms, offering several kinds of tours as well as tastings out of the small but elegant tasting room that on weekends occasionally was so filled that people were turned away. The price had been $45; it recently increased $15.
So a renovation of the tasting room that originally opened in 1966 clearly was in order. New York-based Constellation Brands, which owns Mondavi, didn’t skimp on the details. The place was closed for three years to allow workers free access to every spot they needed to go to without visitor intrusions. All that time was needed also to acquire all of the exotic and impressive materials that fit the plans of world-class design teams.
When the doors reopened on Thursday evening, it was evident that Constellation had what it really wanted — a space so large that it could accommodate the population of a small nation. And they got, also, an homage to ostentation.
Tasteful? Yes. Luxurious, sure. And it is elegant, with several permanent stations for wine-tasting for dozens of visitors at the same time and without crowds ever appearing to be in conflict with one another. It also has several places for live entertainment. The opening featured a short concert by John Legend, who was reportedly paid $1 million for less than an hour of work.
(Before the renovation, the Mondavi concert series allowed for people to sit on folding chairs and watch the performers. That space has now been completely redesigned and is elegantly apportioned with casual but more comfortable seating.)
And no Mondavi facility would be complete without a world-class kitchen, which it has expanded to have the capacity to serve many dozens at a time.
The project certainly matches several other Napa Valley winery designs, all of which include parking areas primarily designed for Maybachs, McLarens and Bugattis. It’s only missing one or two things, including a private jet landing strip. The Mondavi facility is simply orders of magnitude larger.
It appears to be intended to host literally dozens of people at once who are here to learn about wine (specifically, Mondavi wine, as explained to them by Mondavi employee-acolytes). Most visitors should make sufficient time to tour the huge operation that features the famed Mondavi vineyards, including To Kalon. Clearly, and it need not be said, visitors can also purchase wine.
Undoubtedly the winery will stage periodic food-centered events that will also feature Mondavi wines. (A wine/food pairing is $90.) This does not violate any local laws because Mondavi was founded 60 years ago, well before the 1990 establishment of regulations limiting ancillary events at Napa wineries. Mondavi and several other early landed wineries were grandfathered in and do not have to conform to the limiting regs. Others who violate food service rules might end up losing their license to remain in business.
Constellation’s grand reopening included invitations for an enormous crowd. Dignitaries of all kinds (state and local) were in attendance, including some local winery owners and wine-business executives. Guests were treated to elegant nibbles along with Mondavi wines from numerous 6-liter bottles of perfectly stored reserve cabernets dating back to the 1980s.
At a time when wine sales to average American consumers (modestly priced wines) are at their lowest level perhaps ever, this hospitality project represented a lot more than just spectacularity. It showed that this renovated facility has now been expanded so significantly that it now is large enough to hold massive crowds without difficulty, offering both indoor and outdoor experiences.
But it appears to be a project that is not for this time and place, when people cannot get health insurance, are paying $6 or more for a gallon of gas, are having a devil of a time acquiring basic foodstuffs, are losing their jobs (including many at Mondavi) and are cutting back on even essentials.
The disparity between the wealthy and the wealth-challenged continues to grow. Wineries and growers continue to face extremely depressing conditions, and in the midst of all this it is unfortunate that this successful renovation came along when it did. The contrast could not be starker.
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Dan Berger has been writing about wine since 1975.
Wine Discovery:
Oakville Grocery 2024 The Mercantile Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley ($10.99 at Costco) — Bottled by Oakville Grocery in St. Helena, this Costco find connects to one of Napa Valley’s longtime gathering places, with a label that nods to the town’s mercantile roots. The wine opens with melon, peach and green pear, followed by lemon, grapefruit and a touch of tarragon. The texture is slightly rounded, but the finish stays crisp and clean. Alcohol is 13.5%, with enough acidity to keep the ripe fruit profile fresh. Pair with fresh goat cheese, melon and prosciutto or scallops with lemon beurre blanc and chives. — Tim Carl Review
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Mondavi is where I met Dan Berger in 1995. I was working as a wine steward in the dear ol' Vineyard Room. The event was the Westin Tastings. Westin would send F & B managers (mostly, sommeliers were very rare in those days). Flight after flight after flight for three days straight, about 200 different wines sent from vineyards near and far they tasted. My job was to open, taste, pour along with the team of about 3 others. I was new and unsure if I could distinguish an "off" character. I tasted one that made me suspicious. Dan was there and I went to him, understanding that he was the most knowledgeable in the room of knowledgeable tasters. He very kindly tasted and let me know it was indeed corked. He then explained what caused that condition and talked to me about other problems I might encounter. A great moment and event for my wine education. What a great time we all had, really grand. So many memories there, some poignant, some awe-inspiring, some humbling. Those of us who were working in the wine biz then got to learn directly from the greats. Not just about wine, but about hospitality, graciousness, living a lifestyle that could authentically embrace the fine and sophisticated elements around us that blended seamlessly then with farming, gardening, nature, laughter, kinship ... beauty of all kinds. All of that happened at Mondavi and we, the disciples, put it into practice in our own spaces. I am forever grateful for Bob, Margrit, Dan (all so warm and kind) and the many who instilled appreciation for The Beautiful Life into me and countless others. May the flame continue to burn brightly.