Peter Mondavi: Wine-maker who led his family's Charles Krug firm through the rise to global prominence of Napa Valley

Mondavi worked to preserve the family holdings, investing $24m over a nine-year period to replant most of the vineyards and farm them sustainably

Mondavi: he worked hard to keep his firm in the family (AP)

Peter Mondavi was a Napa Valley innovator who led his family's Charles Krug Winery through more than half a century of change. Mondavi, who fought his more famous brother Robert for control of Charles Krug, began his career at a time when the Napa Valley was known chiefly for cheap wine, but saw it grow into one of the world's leading wine regions.

He played a part in that rise, pioneering a number of improvements to California winemaking, 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 bought by Mondavi's parents, Cesare and Rosa. Peter and Robert ran it together after Cesare's death in 1959 but were unable to agree on management styles and split, 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.

After graduating in economics from Stanford, Mondavi studied oenology at the University of California, Berkeley, researching the effects of cold fermentation on white and rosé wines, which then were being fermented at higher temperatures, losing their fruity character through oxidation.

Determined to keep the winery in the family despite corporate buy-outs happening throughout the valley, Mondavi worked to preserve the family holdings, investing $24m over a nine-year period to replant most of the vineyards and farm them sustainably. Today, Peter Mondavi's family owns 850 acres of prime vineyards in the Napa Valley.

Peter Mondavi, wine-maker: born 8 November 1914; married 1950 Blanche Hurtzig (died 2010; one daughter, two sons); died 20 February 2016