[Magdalen] Vintner Dies.

[Jim Guthrie]

 >He is the great pioneer who is mostly responsible for turning 
California's Napa Valley into a world class vineyard region. His wines 
 >were under the label of "Krug" and "Mondavi"

I believe Mondavi was sold to Gallo a few years back.

There were vieyards there and commercial winemaking in the late 19th and 
first few years of the 20th Century, most of them were abandoned with 
the onset of prohibition.

Prohibition did spark the growth of one of the largest wineries -- 
Giuseppe Gallo (father of Ernesto and Julio) made his fortune selling 
"Communion Wine" of many varieties to Roman Catholic Parishes across 
America during Prohibition. In many parts of the country, any good (and 
reasonably moneyed) Roman Catholic could pretty much buy all the Gallo 
wine they wanted from their local parish..

Mondavi was something of a latecomer -- starting after Repeal.

Cheers,
Jim