Robert Mondavi (born 1913) has brought prestige to American wines and helped to popularize wine drinking across the nation. Since opening his own vineyard in 1966, he has seen California's Napa Valley develop into one of the finest wine-making regions in the world.

Before Robert Mondavi, American wine was "understood ... to be the stuff of skid-row jokes," wrote Paul Lukacs in the Washington Times. Most wines made in the country were low-priced table wine at best, not to be held in comparison with the excellent vintages from France. Frustrated, Mondavi set out to change that; he wanted to make Napa Valley wines competitive internationally. Most thought his aspirations were too lofty, but he broke away from his family's long-running business and founded his own firm in 1966 with his oldest son. At first, he simply hoped to produce world-class Napa wines, but eventually, his mission expanded to educating the American drinking...