Peter Mondavi, Napa Valley wine pioneer, has died at 101

SAN FRANCISCO – A winery board member says Peter Mondavi, a wine country innovator who led his family’s Charles Krug Winery through more than a half-century of change, has died. He was 101.

Mondavi died Saturday at his home in St. Helena, California, said Wendy Lane Stevens, a member of the C. Mondavi and Family Board of Directors.

Mondavi, who famously battled his more famous brother Robert Mondavi for control of Charles Krug, began his career at a time when the Napa Valley was known chiefly for cheap wine and witnessed it grow into one of the world’s premiere wine regions.

He played a part in that rise, pioneering a number of improvements to California winemaking, including the use of cold fermentation for white wines and sterile filtration.

Charles Krug has been in the hands of the Mondavi family since 1943, when it was purchased by Mondavi’s parents, Cesare and Rosa.