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Foundation

ON WHICH WE STAND

Continuum is built upon a dynamic and pioneering family history. Over more than a century, four generations of Mondavis have produced wines that continually raised the bar for quality and prestige, propelling the family name to become synonymous with the shimmering promise of California wine.

Cesare Mondavi, an innovator, brought the family to America, to wine, and to the Napa Valley. His son Robert, a visionary, possessed a passion for excellence and tireless ambition which transformed not only his family but the entire world of wine. Tim Mondavi, a virtuoso, from a young age came into the family business and blazed trails globally, developing wines of world-class quality. Now, he and his sister Marcia Mondavi Borger, along with their adult children, have created Continuum, the new home of Mondavi family winemaking.

Continuum Estate Cesare and Rosa Mondavi
1906 - In 1906, Cesare and Rosa Mondavi emigrated from Sassoferrato, in the Marche region of Italy, to the iron-mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota, in search of work and a better life for their family.
Mondavi Family and Workers at Charles Krug Winery
1943 - In 1943, Cesare’s oldest son, Robert, caught the eye of the Moffet family, owners of St. Helena’s Charles Krug winery, which had fallen on hard times since Prohibition. At Robert’s urging, Cesare bought Charles Krug winery where Robert and his brother Peter were able to focus on making fine table wine.

In 1962, Robert and his wife, Marjorie, made their first trip to Europe. They toured the wine regions, met and talked with winegrowers, and on his return, Robert was keen to apply some of what he had learned in Europe at the Charles Krug winery. His enthusiasm knew no bounds and eventually created friction with the more conservative elements of the family business.

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Continuum Estate Mondavi Historical Photo
1974 - After working at his father’s winery every summer for years, Robert’s son, Tim, joined Robert Mondavi Winery full time in 1974, eventually becoming chief winemaker. In his tenure, Tim planned and developed the wine, vineyards and winery for Opus One, a joint venture with Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild. Overseas, he initiated and developed the joint ventures Luce in Italy with Marchesi Frescobaldi and Seña in Chile with Eduardo Chadwick. Tim also initiated and developed improvements in the vineyards and winery for the storied Tenuta dell' Ornellaia and Masseto in Italy.

The long-term endeavor of fine winemaking proved a poor fit with the fleeting, quarterly demands of a publicly traded company. In 2004, the family was forced to sell Robert Mondavi Winery, ending the family’s association with the vines amongst which it had grown up and the label that bore its name. Nevertheless, the end of one chapter allowed for the beginning of another and the family was determined not to miss a harvest since their first in 1919.

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Continuum Estate Vineyard and Winery
2013 - With the completion of the estate winery in 2013, the family realized something they had never achieved before – to grow, produce, and bottle from a single estate and realize the full potential of a singular site. 2013 also marked Tim Mondavi’s 40th year making wine as well as the 100th anniversary of Robert’s birth.
timeline-1919-new
1919 - Cesare’s immigrant community brought with them from Italy the culture of drinking wine with their meals. When Prohibition was enacted in 1919, a business opportunity presented itself as the ban contained an exception for home winemaking. This tight-knit group of miners pooled their money and entrusted Cesare as their representative to source grapes from across California to ship back to Minnesota thus ensuring a good meal always be accompanied by a glass of wine.

Having traveled California in the grape business, Cesare had formed some astute opinions. One was that America, which had seen wine consumption grow during Prohibition, was going to quickly graduate from the sweet, flawed basement wine it had been drinking and embrace dry “fine” table wines. Two, Cesare recognized Napa Valley, once-celebrated but now leveled by Prohibition, for what it was: perhaps California’s greatest wine region.

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timeline-1966-new
1966 - Convinced that if Napa Valley – and California – was to take its proper place in the greater world of wine, it had to absorb the lessons already learned by generations of winemakers in Europe and to compete with them on their own terms. Robert, with the backing of investors, built Robert Mondavi winery in 1966 with a vision to create wines from Napa Valley that would stand in the company of the world’s finest.
timeline-2005
2005 - After the sale of the family winery, and with Robert’s often-repeated mantra in mind – “This is just the beginning” – Tim and sister Marcia Mondavi Borger and their families founded Continuum in 2005 with a vision to create a wine from Napa Valley that would stand in the company of the world’s finest.

The first three vintages of Continuum were sourced primarily from To-Kalon, representing the family’s past on the valley floor. For Continuum’s future, Tim envisioned a loftier pursuit in the style of the most renowned Grand Crus and First Growths of France.  After years of searching hillside estates, the family acquired in 2008 and 2009, contiguous parcels on the slopes of Pritchard Hill along the eastern ridge of Napa Valley. The natural advantages of elevation, shyer soils, and lower yields at Sage Mountain Vineyard mirror the qualities of the most storied vineyards of Europe.

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2019 Etched Magnum
2019 - In 2019, As devoted as ever to the art of winegrowing, the Mondavi family, with the help of a world-class team, celebrated an unbroken string of 100 harvests. What Cesare began in 1919, what Robert elevated, Tim and Marcia were able to realize – a long-held family dream to produce a wine to be recognized as a first growth of Napa Valley, among the finest in the world.
Continuum Estate Cesare and Rosa Mondavi
1906 - In 1906, Cesare and Rosa Mondavi emigrated from Sassoferrato, in the Marche region of Italy, to the iron-mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota, in search of work and a better life for their family.
timeline-1919-new
1933 - Wine played a major role in the Mondavi household and the Italian-American community working the mines. When Prohibition began in 1919, this tight-knit group of miners identified a loophole in the Volstead Act that allowed for home winemaking. The community pooled their money and Cesare was selected to go to California to source and ship wine grapes back to Minnesota thus ensuring a good meal always be accompanied by a glass of wine.

Sourcing grapes from all across California, Cesare quickly learned that the best grapes for winemaking came from the Napa Valley and charted a course for his family to start making wine there once prohibition came to an end in 1933.

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Mondavi Family and Workers at Charles Krug Winery
1943 - In 1943, the family bought the Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, which had fallen on hard times. Here, Robert and his brother Peter were able to focus on making fine table wine.

In 1962, Robert and his wife, Marjorie, made their first trip to Europe. They toured the wine regions, met and talked with winegrowers, and on his return, Robert was keen to apply some of what he had learned in Europe at the Charles Krug winery. His enthusiasm knew no bounds and eventually created friction with the more conservative elements of the family business.

Read More

timeline-1966-new
1966 - Convinced that if Napa Valley – and California – was to take its proper place in the greater world of wine, it had to absorb the lessons already learned by generations of winemakers in Europe and to compete with them on their own terms. Robert, with the backing of investors, built Robert Mondavi winery in 1966 with a vision to create wines from Napa Valley that would stand in the company of the world’s finest.
Continuum Estate Mondavi Historical Photo
1974 - Robert’s son, Tim, joined Robert Mondavi Winery in 1974, eventually becoming chief winemaker. In his tenure, Tim planned and developed the wine, vineyards and winery for Opus One, a joint venture with Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild. Overseas, he initiated and developed the joint ventures Luce in Italy with the Frescobaldi family and Seña in Chile with Eduardo Chadwick. Tim also initiated and developed improvements in the vineyards and winery for the storied Tenuta dell' Ornellaia in Italy.

The long-term endeavor of fine winemaking proved a poor fit with the fleeting, quarterly demands of a publicly traded company. In 2004, the family was forced to sell Robert Mondavi Winery, ending the family’s association with the vines amongst which it had grown up and the label that bore its name. Nevertheless, the end of one chapter allowed for the beginning of another and the family was determined not to miss a harvest since their first in 1919.

Read More

timeline-2005
2005 - In 2005, with Robert’s often-repeated mantra in mind – “This is just the beginning” – Tim and sister Marcia Mondavi Borger and their families founded Continuum Estate with a vision to create a wine from Napa Valley that would stand in the company of the world’s finest.

The first three vintages of Continuum were sourced primarily from To-Kalon, representing the family’s past on the valley floor. For Continuum’s future, Tim envisioned a loftier pursuit in the style of the most renowned Grand Crus and First Growths of France.  After a years-long search of hillside estates, the family acquired contiguous parcels on the slopes of Pritchard Hill along the eastern ridge of Napa Valley in 2008 and 2009. The natural advantages of elevation, shyer soils, and lower yields at Sage Mountain Vineyard mirror the qualities of the most storied vineyards of Europe.

Read More

Continuum Estate Vineyard and Winery
2013 - In 2013, Continuum Estate realized the highest pursuit in wine – to grow, produce, and bottle from a single estate and realize the full potential of a singular site – with the completion of the estate winery. 2013 also marked Tim Mondavi’s 40th year making wine as well as the 100th anniversary of Robert’s birth.
timeline-2019
2019 - As devoted as ever to the art of winegrowing, and with the help of a world-class team of experts, the Mondavi family celebrated in 2019an unbroken string of 100 harvests and its 100th year in wine reaching back to Cesare’s first shipping wine grapes from California to Minnesota for home wine making.
“For four generations our family has created a continuum of wine excellence, enhancing the celebration of life.”
Tim Mondavi

Foundation

Family

Wine has an affinity for family—and our family, for wine. Both are long term endeavors, requiring a unified vision, consistent care, and the passing down of knowledge, wisdom, and devotion. Without family, Continuum cannot be its true self, and at the same time, Continuum becomes our family’s vessel to carry the past into the future.

Continuum Estate Tim and Carissa Mondavi in Courtyard
A century of collective Mondavi family experience imbues Continuum with knowledge and depth.
Continuum Estate Mondavi Family
Foundation

Team

The art of winegrowing requires many hands. Our legacy and passion are due in large part to the talents and expertise of those who have chosen to work alongside us over the years and decades. They are an extended family, keepers of institutional knowledge and vital to everything we do. We are honored they have chosen to join us in this journey.

Continuum Estate Team in Cellar
Many hands influence the wine growing…
Continuum Estate Team Outside Winery
Many hands influence the wine growing…

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