Peter Mondavi</caption>Eric Risberg/The Associated Press
Peter Mondavi, a Napa Valley wine-country innovator who led his family's Charles Krug Winery through more than a half-century of change, died Saturday at his home in St. Helena, Calif., at the age of 101.
Mr. Mondavi, who battled his more famous brother Robert Mondavi for control of Charles Krug, began his career at a time when the Napa Valley was known chiefly for cheap wine and saw it grow into one of the world's premiere wine regions. He played a part in that growth, pioneering a number of improvements to California wine making, including the use of cold fermentation for white wines and sterile filtration.
Charles Krug has been in the hands of the Mondavi family since 1943, when it was purchased by his parents, Cesare and Rosa. Peter and Robert ran the winery together after Cesare's death in 1959 but were unable to agree on management styles and parted ways, with Robert founding the Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966. Later, the brothers reconciled and, in 2005, celebrated their reunion by making a special blend of wine together.
Born on Nov. 8, 1914, the youngest of four children, Peter Mondavi got his start as a boy packing boxes for his father's grape-shipping business. He earned a degree in economics from Stanford University in 1937 and was drawn to the wine business, studying oenology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Service in the Second World War interrupted his career, but after war's end, he returned to the business. In his studies, he had researched the effects of cold fermentation on white and rosé wines, which at the time were being fermented at higher temperatures which meant they lost their fruity character through oxidation. He applied what he learned to make fresher white wines.
Determined to keep the winery family owned despite corporate buyouts happening throughout the valley, Peter Mondavi worked to preserve the family holdings, investing $24-million (U.S.) over a nine-year period to replant most of the vineyards and farm them sustainably.
Mr. Mondavi leaves three children, Marc, Peter Jr. and daughter Siena. His wife, the former Blanche Hurtzig, died in 2010. His sons now lead the business; Marc heads the CK Mondavi Vineyards division, producer of a popular line of affordable wines, and Peter Jr. leads Charles Krug, producer of premium Napa Valley wines. Although he didn't run the day-to-day business, Peter Mondavi continued to be a fixture at the office, climbing the two flights of stairs to his office even as a centenarian. He credited his stamina to good genes, hard work – and a daily glass of cabernet sauvignon.