#2 A Wine To Represent the Indispensible Napa Valley Man

The Top Five Most Historic American Wines: A Series

This five-issue series will highlight the five most historic wines produced thus far. It is an exercise in examining what matters to and what defines the contemporary state of the American wine industry and wine consumer. These top five most historic American wines are not offered in order of importance, but rather in chronological order.

NUMBER ONE: 1936 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
NUMBER TWO: 1966 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon

This second of the five most historic American wines could have been a Chenin Blanc or Fume Blanc. What mattered was that it was a Robert Mondavi Wine. Without Robert Mondavi’s effort to popularize California and particularly Napa Valley wines, the industry would have been retarded in its growth for years. Robert Mondavi is the essential man of California wine. We choose the 1966 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon as the wine that embodies this position because it too would be the wine that catapulted the Mondavi brand to a quality prominence.