Winemaker Robert Gerald Mondavi. He's credited with being, "one of the world's two or three most influential wine makers." ("New West" magazine). In the 1960's he severed ties with the family's Winery in Napa Valley where his father had been producing bulk wine since the 1930's. He went on to form his own winery, Robert Mondavi Winery, and to put California on the map as a world-class wine producer.