When Krug died in 1892, his close friend, James Moffitt, a San Francisco banker, purchased the winery. Moffitt owned Krug through prohibition then began looking for a winemaking family to carry on the Krug tradition. He found that pioneering spirit and vision in Cesare and Rosa Mondavi, to whom he sold the winery in 1943.
The Mondavis had emigrated from Italy in 1910 and eventually became involved in the purchasing and shipping of California wine grapes to fellow Italian émigrés in Minnesota. The family moved to Lodi, California and set up an ambitious fruit-shipping firm. They not only shipped fine wine grapes from both the Napa and Central Valleys, but also used the grapes to produce wine for the family's table.
Cesare was 60 when he purchased the winery for $75,000. His two sons, Peter and Robert, both went to Stanford and then returned to work at the winery. After graduating from Stanford, Peter studied enology under Dr. Cruess at the University of California. It was here that he began the research on winemaking innovations that would make the winery's reputation.
Over the years, Peter's innovations would set the scene for substantial change in winemaking procedures. One of his innovations was developing cold fermentation which enabled winemakers to produce exceptionally crisp, fruity white wines. Vintage dated varietals were introduced by him in 1943 and, in 1953, Peter adapted sterile fermentation to winemaking to remove yeast cells and retain natural flavors in wine. Other pioneering activities included the use of small French oak barrels and glass-lined steel tanks, the first winery newsletter "Bottles & Bins", and the August Moon Concert Series at the winery. When Cesare died in 1959, Peter became head of operations with his mother, Rosa. When she died in 1976, he assumed the presidency of Charles Krug.
Peter's two sons-Marc and Peter, Jr.-have been playing major roles at Charles Krug since the early 1980s. The vineyards are overseen by Marc, while Peter, Jr. manages marketing, sales and finance.
Marc Mondavi, the oldest son of Peter and Blanche, was born July 4, 1954 in St. Helena. The family winemaking business caught Marc quite early in life: he held his first winery job at age 10. Marc studied viticulture and enology at the University of California, Davis and marketing at California State University, Sacramento. Upon his return to the winery in 1978, Marc immersed himself in every element of the operation. He worked with his father to further his knowledge of winemaking, and applied the expertise gathered at UC Davis to the winery's numerous vineyard holdings.
Along with the management of winemaking at Charles Krug and a busy travel schedule, Marc supervises 800 acres of Napa Valley vineyards. The winery's holdings span from the Carneros district in southern Napa Valley to the property surrounding the winery in St. Helena.
Peter Mondavi, Jr.'s engineering study (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1980; M.S. Engineering Management, 1981, Stanford University) has proved immensely valuable to the Charles Krug Winery. During its expansion through the early eighties, he helped design the winery's state-of-the-art transfer piping system, precision temperature control systems, and its new computerized crushing bay.
His work on temperature control is a refinement of his father's revolutionary work on cold fermentation. "My father did the research that proved that certain temperatures for fermentation produce a better quality wine, " he explains. "When I designed a computer application to monitor and control fermentation temperatures, I knew it would free the winemaker to do what he does best-make decisions based on his taste."
Jac Cole, winemaker for the Charles Krug Winery, is responsible for the production of all Charles Krug Napa Valley wines; including the winery's Vintage Selection Cabernet Sauvignon and the Family Reserve wines. He is currently President of the Napa Valley Wine Technical Group.
Jac was born August 20, 1949 in Richmond, California. He attended the University of California, Berkeley majoring in biology. After graduation Jac became an avid home winemaker. "I fell in love with the process of making wine and decided that I wanted to make it my career." To further that objective, Jac secured a degree in enology from California State University, Fresno.
Jac comes to the Charles Krug Winery from S. Anderson Vineyards, where he was the winemaker for four years. Prior to his position at S. Anderson, he worked at Stag's Leap Winery and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.
Currently there are a number of new things afoot at Krug. A new label has been designed which is essentially a return to the past and the celebration of Napa's oldest winery. Jac and Marc have introduced a Sauvignon Blanc made by using a "reductive fermentation" technique pioneered in New Zealand. And, with the advent of the 1998 vintage, are introducing an Alexander Valley appellation Zinfandel. They felt that the Sonoma fruit produced a distinctly different expression of Zinfandel from their Napa Valley Appellation Zinfandel.
Two key properties are being replanted---the 80 acre Slinsen Ranch just south of the Veteran's Home in Yountville and the 140 acre Willow Lake Ranch in Carneros.
Additional small fermenters were added in 1999 further their ability to crush small lots at optimal maturity and, last year, they purchased an additional 1,600 barrels, 10% of which are French oak in their continuing program of upgrading cooperage and increasing the percent of French oak.
While many things change, some remain constant. Through fifty years of winemaking at Charles Krug, Peter Mondavi, Sr. has been involved in every area of his winery's operations. However, his favorite place to be has been, and still is today, in the laboratory tasting and evaluating wine.
As Marc sees it, "The Charles Krug Winery and the Peter Mondavi family have a tradition of innovation in winemaking and in viticulture," he says. "I'm now a part of that tradition, as I hope my children will be after me. This is a source of pride, and the reason we work so hard to make the best wine this valley can produce."
Some people are stifled by the past. Others content to live with it. It is the hallmark of the Peter Mondavi family to improve upon the past. The three generations of Mondavis are clear examples of why the motto of the Charles Krug Winery is "a tradition of innovation."