Robert Mondavi - pioneering winemaker and one of the most important personalities in the Californian wine industry, died yesterday, aged 94.

Mondavi was the founder of the winery of the same name, for long considered to be the best-known winery in the USA, and was also a visionary, leading Californian viticulture to new frontiers.

It was he who decided, together with the French baron Philippe de Rothschild, to found a joint venture calloed Opus One in 1980, a sensation at the time.

Mondavi was born in Minnesota on 18 June 1913, as the son of Italian immigrants. His father went into the wine business when Robert was eight years old, and his son's interest in and passion for grapes and wine was soon kindled.

In 1943 the Mondavi family bought the Charles Krug Winery, laying the foundation for the later Mondavi empire; in 1966 Robert Mondavi founded his own winery in Oakville. (WF)