In the early 1900s, Cesare and Rosa Mondavi, newlyweds from Italy's Sassoferrato region, planted their roots in Minnesota. When the Prohibition Act of 1919 banned alcohol sales, Italian families were puzzled—wine was a daily essential. But a loophole allowed families to make 200 gallons of wine per year for personal use, and Cesare saw an opportunity.

He began shipping California grapes for home winemaking, quickly noticing that many came from a place called Lodi. With a keen business sense, he moved his family to California, including his young son, Robert Mondavi, and launched his own grape-shipping enterprise. Robert’s first job was hands-on, nailing crates for his father’s grapes, a start that would spark a lifelong dedication to wine.

Raised with values of hard work, Robert Mondavi embraced his calling. He studied business and chemistry at Stanford, followed by viticulture and enology at UC Berkeley, preparing him to make waves in California’s burgeoning wine industry. This early groundwork would help shape the legacy of one of California’s most revered wine pioneers.