Peter Mondavi dead: Napa Valley winemaker dies aged 101

Mr Mondavi oversaw the family’s Charles Krug winery for more than half a century

Peter Mondavi was hailed as a wine country innovator who led his family's Charles Krug Winery through more than a half-century of change (PA)

Peter Mondavi, one of the pioneers of the California wine industry, has died at his home in Napa Valley at the age of 101. Mr Mondavi oversaw the family’s Charles Krug winery for more than half a century, introducing many of the innovations that turned Napa from a producer of cheap, low-quality plonk into one of the world’s most celebrated wine regions.

The Mondavis’ winery in St Helena was originally founded in 1861 by Prussian immigrant Charles Krug, making it the oldest in the region still operating today. Born in Minnesota in November 1914, Mr Mondavi began his winemaking career in Napa almost 30 years later in 1943, when his Italian immigrant parents Cesare and Rosa purchased the property for $75,000.

Mr Mondavi and his older brother Robert made great strides for California wine production during the 1950s and 1960s, planting pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, importing French oak barrels to age their wines – the first winery in Napa to do so – and introducing cold fermentation to create white wines that were notably crisper and fruitier than previous vintages.

After a feud over the direction of the business, Robert Mondavi left in 1965 to establish his own winery in nearby Oakville. The brothers reconciled before Robert died in 2008. A Stanford economics graduate, Peter became chief executive following Rosa’s death in 1976, and strove to maintain ownership of the Krug winery as many winemakers in Napa succumbed to corporate buyouts.

In recent years, Mr Mondavi said his proudest achievement was to keep family control of the winery. “If I could, I would tell my father: I did the best I could during the difficult years. I was determined and we held on,” he said before his retirement in 2015, when he passed on the winery to his two sons. He is survived by three children, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.