Dirt Napa

Or
Que Syrah, Syrah
Robert Mondavi, who helped establish the wine industry of the Napa Valley, has died at the age of 94. Mondavi built his namesake winery into a $500 million a year business, and sold it in 2004 for $1.35 billion, but as Falcon Crest showed, the wine industry is full of intrigue and familial strife, and for Mondavi, this meant overcoming the bias for European wines in the industry and the American public. Which he did by stealing all the European tricks and techniques, taking his vintners on tours of the staid European wineries. The familial strife came from a battle with his brother, Peter, with whom he had squabbled for years over the direction of the family winery, with him on the road selling and Peter at home squishing grapes with his feet. Mondavi bought a fur coat for his wife to wear to the White House, and when Peter accused Robert of using company money to buy it, Robert punched him in the face. Robert soon found himself looking for work, but bounced back, bought a vineyard and introduced a label with his own name, changing the pronunciation of the family name from mon-DAY-vi to mon-DAH-vi. He also had problems with his own kids, firing them from the company for their emphasis on cheap wines at the expense of the signature quality.

Four Pooligans had a vine time with this one, topped by Mark’s Magnum Opus One, as his Eat, Drink and Be Buried squad reclaims the top spot for the first time since January and gives us our first new leader since March 31. Others scoring on this one include Monty’s U.N. Dead, which joins the dogpile at 12th, and Nancy and Marlene’s Now for the Rest of the Stiffs, pulling into a 24th place tie.

And as we approach the half-way point, we’ve had 21 hits, putting us on pace for 45 for the year, which would be our second-best showing. Some separation already starting to occur, as there are only 4 lists that are within 1 hit of taking the lead. Plenty of big hits to come, as only 2 of the 17 most common picks have dropped.