What Will Mondavi Call His Wine?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Aug 27th 2006 at 12:02PM

Recently it was announced that R. Michael Mondavi has bought the Carneros Creek Winery in the Napa Valley, giving him a chance to reestablish the Mondavi dynasty, if only he can get his own name back.. Mondavi resigned as vice chairman of Robert Mondavi Corp. in 2004 and has since founded Folio Wine Partners with his wife and son. The former owners of the Carneros Creek winery, Francis and Kathleen Mahoney. Mondavi will continue to make their Mahoney Vineyards wines there and Folio will produce their I'M, Oberon and Hangtime brands there as well.

Constellation Brands Inc. bought the name when it bought Robert Mondavi Corp. of Oakville for $1 billion from the family and public shareholders. Michael Mondavi's uncle Peter Mondavi owns the rights to make wine under the CK Mondavi Family Vineyards label. Leaving Michael Mondavi with not a lot of choices for giving the wine his own name. Constellation Brands isn't ready to give the name back any time soon, they see the name as a valuable asset. It gets more confusing, Michael Mondavi's 93-year-old father, Robert Mondavi, and two siblings are also considering their own return to the business. What should Mondavi call his new wine? Tom Wark suggests "Formerly Known As Estates" but I'm partial to "Ivadnom" (Mondavi backwards).

Tags: mondavi, napa, wine