Mondavis promote cultural, culinary arts
The cultural and culinary arts programs at Robert Mondavi Winery have become a showplace for painters, sculptors, photographers, jazz and classical musicians and the great chefs of the world.
"Like visual arts and music, wine and food speak to the heart," said Margrit Biever Mondavi, the visionary behind the winery's Cultural Affairs department and wife of winery founder, Robert Mondavi. "By honoring the world of the senses, of memory and emotions, fine art and the rites of the table express our humanity."
Robert Mondavi Winery was one of the first to establish extensive tours and tastings to educate the American public about wine. Today, with a wide variety of tours and presentations, the winery has something to offer wine novices and enthusiasts alike.
Since the winery opened in 1966, its private dining room, the Vineyard Room, has emphasized simple, flavorful recipes made from the freshest seasonal ingredients. In 1976, Margrit Biever Mondavi introduced cooking classes based on this culinary style. The biannual Great Chefs at Robert Mondavi Winery series has featured Julia Child, Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, Bradley Ogden and Roy Yamaguchi, among others.
A series of rotating art exhibits in the Vineyard Room has encouraged talented unknown artists and highlighted established ones such as Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud and Nathan Oliveira.
The winery's permanent art collection includes the bronze and marble sculptures of the late San Francisco artist Beniamino Bufano, as well as paintings by Napa Valley artists.
In 1969, the winery debuted the popular outdoor Summer Music Festival to benefit the Napa Valley Symphony. Since then, this concert series has expanded to include some of the world's most recognized jazz, R&B and pop artists, featuring Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, the Buena Vista Social Club, Robert Cray, India Arie and Aimee Mann.
The winery will kick off the 2008 Summer Music Festival July 5 with the hot New Orleans sound of the Preservation Hall Jazz and making its 37th festival appearance.
In 1984, the winery launched the Festival of Winter Classical Concerts to benefit local musical organizations such as the Napa Valley Opera.
In 2006, the winery inaugurated TASTE3, a landmark, interdisciplinary conference featuring some of the world's most dynamic professionals in wine, food and the arts.
This year's TASTE3 event will be held July 17-19 at Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and Arts, a Napa facility founded by Mondavis in 2001.
On July 19, Robert Mondavi Winery will host a party with the musicians of Tiempo Libre as part of the TASTE3, the winery's Summer Music Festival and the Festival del Sole, a 10-day festival of concerts, visual art exhibitions and family events throughout Napa Valley.
The winery will also present the Italian Passions night of chamber music Aug. 15, part of Music in the Vineyards, a three-week chamber music festival that brings together national recognized musicians in unique Napa Valley winery settings.
For more than four decades now, Robert Mondavi Winery has led California's wine industry -- and much of the world -- with innovations in winegrowing and winemaking, as well as educational and cultural outreach.
