How Robert Mondavi Winery is moving with the times
From adopting regenerative organic viticulture to creating a new hospitality centre, while investing in raising brand awareness worldwide, Robert Mondavi Winery is making changes to remain relevant now and in the future.
That was the message from a podcast with relatively new winemaker at Napa’s Robert Mondavi Winery, Laura Díaz Muñoz – a native of Spain who has settled in Sonoma with her husband and children having worked at a number of wineries in California, before joining the famous Mondavi winery two years ago.
Speaking to db last month, she outlined the vision for the Californian property as it makes changes to better its wines, improve its sustainability credentials, as well as, importantly, attract a new generation of drinkers, wherever they may reside.
One part of this has been a major investment in the brand’s HQ in Oakville, Napa, not just to update the winery, but improve the visitor experience so that even non wine drinkers will want to head to the property.
Constructed in 1966 – making it the first winery to be built in Napa since prohibition – the Mondavi winery, known as the Arch and Tower (pictured above), will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year, when its new hospitality facilities will open, with April set to be the month when the unveiling will take place.
With the revamp rumoured to be costing as much as US$200 million, the investment is a major one by owner Constellation Brands, which acquired Robert Mondavi Winery in 2004 for US$1.36 billion.
Fun experiences
Described by Laura as “amazing”, the aim is to make the site appeal to wine drinkers as well as those who don’t imbibe, either because they are driving, or for other reasons, and therefore will offer much more than just tastings and wine-related merchandise, but a range of “fun experiences”, including live music events and cooking classes along with art displays.
“It’s about telling our story and creating good experiences, and then the consumer can choose us or not,” said Laura.
Already in use at the estate are new winemaking facilities, which follow more than two years of renovations, both to improve the precision as well as the efficiency of the processes.
As a result of new facilities that allow for small-lot fermentation for example, Laura said that today Robert Mondavi Winery is making “more focused wines”, helped not only by the increased space and smaller vats, but also more equipment, such as multiple optical sorters for checking berry quality.
As for the new operation’s eco-credentials, Laura commented that a better wastewater treatment plant means that any water used in winemaking can be re-used in the cellar or applied to vineyards in need of irrigation, or the estate’s gardens – which are another draw for tourists.
Organic now, regenerative in the future
As for the vineyards, the Robert Mondavi Winery’s estate – including its prized plots in the To Kalon site in Oakville – are now all certified organic, with a gradual move towards being regeneratively farmed too.
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“We started the change to organic practices is 2020 and got the certification in 2023, and it has helped us to have more eyes on the vines and gather more data too, which has helped us make better decisions,” recorded Laura, referring to managing the vineyards throughout the growing season in the face of extreme weather events.
She added, “We’ve had years like this year, 2025, or 2023, when we experienced the opposite [of a general trend towards warming vintages]; there have been cooler temperatures, as well as rains during harvest – so it’s about switching gears very quickly… climate change is producing events that are more radical and that requires greater attention and quick reactions.”
Commenting that “some of our sister wineries within the company [Constelllation] are already regenerative certified,” she said, “So, we are going to move some of our vineyards into that, just because it makes sense; it’s like the next step of improvement.”
Better quality and consistent yields
But how does being organic and regenerative in vineyard management help Robert Mondavi Winery face a changing climate?
Along with “having the tools to gather data”, Laura said that such farming practices “are helping us make better decisions because of a switch in mentality to taking care of the soils: so making sure they have the correct level of nutrients for example.”
Continuing she said, “It’s not that before we didn’t do that, but we are now paying more attention, and thinking, what will we do if we cannot use that chemical? What are the replacements? What are other options that we have? So I think it makes you think differently; it changes your culture, and I think it helps overall to be more on it.”
Furthermore, the new approaches are, she told db later in the podcast, “helping us get better quality and more consistent yields” – offsetting the cost increase of making the switch to organics, which requires an investment in equipment.
Spreading the word
As for getting the message out about the developments at Robert Mondavi Winery, Laura is clear that the brand, despite its fame in the US, needs to be promoted globally.
“We are trying to be more out there,” she began. “We have been creating new partners in certain areas, which is exciting,” she added, before commenting, “In Napa, there’s such a diversity of wines, and I think that in certain markets that is not well known.”
Indeed, Laura’s mission – along with her fellow winemakers – is to travel more and spread the word that Napa produces a range of wine styles with different grapes, even if it has been most successful at crafting an image for ripe, high-end, Cabernet Sauvignon-based reds.
“There is such a diversity of wine styles that can be created in Napa, and especially now with newer winemakers, there’s this kind of switch to making wines that are more approachable,” she recorded.
Concluding, she told db, “So I think there’s an opportunity now of telling our story, and I think that we as winemakers have an obligation to do that – so that’s what we are planning on doing; on being more out there.”
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