Continuum Estate

These interviews are part of our feature on winemaking families from the June/July 2011 issue.

Tim Mondavi — son of the legendary Robert Mondavi — is the winegrower, partner and creator of Continuum Estate in Napa, California. Tim, who has grown up in the industry, continues to work closely with many family members, including his son, Dante Mondavi, who now handles national sales at Continuum.

While Continuum is a very young winery (the family started it in 2005), the Mondavi family has been making wine in North America for more than four generations.

Tim Mondavi

Q: How did you get your start in the industry?

A: Playing in the pomace piles at Charles Krug Winery as a toddler.

Q: What was your big break?

A: Having the right parents and an inspiring father.

Q: Tell me about the moment you knew you’d made it, that you were going to be successful on your own.

A: I don’t know that I ever thought before, or now, about being successful on my own. I have always had the benefit of growing up working with an inspired team that was united by a common goal and vision of success.

Q: When it comes to winemaking, what is your passion?

A: I have always loved getting to know the land through the wines. Today, my greatest satisfaction is more deeply understanding our Continuum estate.

Q: What do you want people to remember about your wines?

A: Extremely low yields from old vines give wines depth, nuance and refinement. The sheer joy and pleasure of enjoying them with a great meal.

Q: What are your hopes for the future of your winery, say 30 to 50 years down the road?

A: I would hope we have been able to realize to a much greater degree the potential of this great property. That it will be recognized among the great properties of the world. That future generations of our family and extended family feel as excited about its ongoing potential for improvement as much as I do now.

Q:  Is there anyone in the wine industry — dead or alive — that you wish you could work with? Why?

A: I have been really blessed to work with the great wine people of our time. I would have loved to have more time at Ornellaia in Bolgheri. I worked there for eight years but it was too short. I believe it had a big impact in influencing my vision for Continuum.

Q: What do you do when you’re not making wine?

A: Food, travel, swimming, scuba, cycling, reading, history, philosophy.

Q: What are your thoughts on organic/biodynamic wine production?

A: I strongly believe in the importance of both. Natural and organic farming have always been important to me.

Q: What’s in your wine cellar?

A: Burgundy, Tuscan and California wines.

Dante Mondavi

Q: How did you get your start in the industry?

A: I had the good fortune to be born into it. I started by gathering sugar/brix samples in the vineyard. I was jealous that my brother and sisters could drive the four-wheeler; I wanted to join them.

Q: What was your big break? Tell me about the moment you knew you’d made it — that you were going to be successful.

A: When my father trusted me in taking care of the Continuum cellar, when I was appointed cellar master beginning in 2007.

Q: Who are your influences? Mentors?

A: My grandfather, Robert Mondavi, and my father, Tim, as well as the whole Continuum team. The people I would most like to invite to dinner would be my great-grandfather Cesare and great-grandmother Rosa. I never met them, but they had such a huge influence on our family.

Q: Is there anyone in the wine industry — dead or alive — that you wish you could work with? Why?

A: Cesare Mondavi, my great-grandfather, to learn his history, which is our history, and to better understand what brought him into wine and what it was like dealing with being an immigrant and prohibition.

Q: When it comes to winemaking, what is your passion (blending, a particular grape, region etc.)?

A: Fermentation — the transformation of grape juice into wine. Also picking my dad’s brain on his experience and how this year is similar and different from years past.

Q: What do you want people to remember about your wines?

A: That they are epic — that they are reflective of this magnificent property. Creating wines of this quality requires a great deal of hard work. I also hope that everyone who tastes Continuum wines enjoys them.

Q: What are your hopes for the future of your winery, say 30 to 50 years down the road?

A: We hope to be established as a true first growth, amongst the finest estates in the world.

Q: What do you do when you’re not making wine?

A: Snowboarding, wakesurfing, barbecuing with family and friends, fishing in rivers, streams and oceans.

Q: What are your thoughts on organic/biodynamic wine production?

A: I believe in organic, but it has to be sustainable for many reasons. Being a green farmer is very important to me, but sometimes you have to adjust when Mother Nature throws you a curveball.

Q: What wines are in your cellar?

A: Napa reds from Pritchard Hill and Howell Mountain. Also Tuscan reds, such as those of Bolgheri and Chianti Classico Riserva.