Sadly another of Robert Mondavi's legacies is in trouble. The Napa Valley food and wine center Copia went into liquidation recently and now Taste3, the annual conference celebrating food and wine, is on hold. Taste3 is sponsored by the Robert Mondavi Winery and brings food writers, chefs, winemakers and other artisans together each year for a weekend of talks and tastings. The conference depends on both sponsorships and having plenty of buyers for the tickets, which in 2008 cost $1950 for the weekend. The current economy has proved to be a challenge for many festivals and events and Taste3 would also have to find a new venue now that Copia is closed. The next Taste3 is planned for 2010.

Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts , Napa Valley's gorgeous shrine to food and wine may be a wonderful place to visit but the Sacramento Bee reveals that it is a bit of a financial albatross.

The 80,000-square-foot center was built with a $20 million gift from the late Robert Mondavi and has relied on a tiny state-owned bank, Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, or I-Bank for short, which gave the center a $77 million bailout. Now the small bank is in deep trouble due to the subprime mortgage crisis and is facing an Aug. 11 deadline to come up with cash to back its guarantees. According to the Bee I-Bank authorized the first bond offering for Copia in 1999 for $70 million which backed the construction of the buildings and grounds that include indoor and outdoor kitchens, a demonstration vineyard and organic vegetable gardens, cooking and tasting classrooms and a 240-seat auditorium. Copia is also home to two restaurants and a large gift shop. But many tourists prefer to spend their time at individual wineries rather than at Copia. Since it opened in 2001 it has lost between $4.2 million and $12 million a year and has $14 million deficit, according to the 2007 annual report. Even though I-Bank knew Copia was in deep trouble, it approved Copia's financial rescue in April 2007 and authorized the bond refinancing deal three months later through New York-based securities firm JPMorgan.

The Bee also reports that Copia faced scrutiny over how it was using the space and facilities built with its first round of tax-exempt bond money. An IRS agent found that Copia was using far more than the allowable five percent of its space for business activities putting the center's tax-exempt status in jeopardy.

The article's commenters have some fascinating ideas for Copia, including turning into a museum to honor the late Robert Mondavi . Others argue that is was flawed from the get-go and an unnecessary expense for a region that already has so many wine and food options.

The name Mondavi still has the power to generate excitement in the wine world. The latest Mondavi release comes from Tim Mondavi. Continuum is produced by Tim and his sister Marcia, with 94-year-old patriarch Robert and his wife Margrit and continuing the Mondavi tradition of making wine producing a family affair, Tim's five children are also playing a role in the production. Tim Mondavi has some high aspirations for his wine, he told Decanter, his goal is to have to have the wine be a little like the pricey Opus One. For the first release just over 1,000 cases have been produced. The 2005 vintge is a blend of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It sells for $130 and will be released next month.

Okay, here's a epicurean dilemma for you: would you rather have a dinner with Napa Valley legends Robert and Margrit Mondavi at their home on the summit of Wappo Hill with wines specially selected from the Mondavi personal library, and conversation with San Francisco figurative artist Manuel Neri or would you rather dine with nine friends at the legendary Chez Panisse, the restaurant that started a food revolution? You might just want to bid on both at the June Scholarship Benefit for the Oxbow School, the nation's first semester-only secondary school program for the visual arts. The school is hosting a gathering to honor Christopher Brown in its annual Celebration of an Artful Life Saturday, June 2 at 6 p.m. on the school's Napa River campus in Napa. The event will start with a feast prepared by chef Jennifer Sherman and her Chez Panisse team and the live auction features the lots mentioned above as well as others that include a London Art Tour for two which includes two round trip tickets aboard EOS Airlines and original artwork by Nina Katchadourian, J. John Priola, Kathryn Spence, Randy Twaddle, and dinner at Gretchen and John Berggruen's Napa residence with Christopher Brown. Tickets include the dinner and auction, for $350 or $500, which includes a chance to win the 2007 Artful Life door prize: Day of Art with Oxbow Director Stephen Thomas.

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).

This summer the Robert Mondavi Winery is holding a new conference, Taste3, which will bring together wine, food and the arts. The conference will take place in Napa, California from July 13-16 at Copia: The American Center of Wine Food & the Arts. The list of people tapped for the conference are widely eclectic, ranging from Austrian crystal designer Georg Riedel to archaeological chemist Patrick McGovern and Leo McCloskey, founder and president of Enologix, a wine consultancy that uses chemistry to predict taste score. There will be winemakers, scientists, writers and sommeliers and even Robby Barnett, the artistic director of the dance troupe Pilobolus. The conference will feature a variety of chefs such as Alice Waters and Thomas Keller. The event will include epic dinners at famous Napa Valley wineries such as Harlan Estate, Quintessa and  Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, and the most anticipated meal, the Great Chefs of Robert Mondavi Winery Alumni Dinner on Saturday, July 15, in which some of the world's most famous chefs will create dishes paired with special anniversary selections from Robert Mondavi Winery's wine library. The conference will end on July 16, the 40th anniversary of the Oakville winery. Taste3 costs $2,350 per person.