The House of Mondavi, Julia Flynn Siler
The House of Mondavi, Julia Flynn Siler
5 Rating(s)
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The House of Mondavi
The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty

Author: Julia Flynn Siler

Narrator: Alan Sklar

Unabridged: 17 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/16/2007


Synopsis

Set in California's lush Napa Valley and spanning four generations of a talented and visionary family, The House of Mondavi is a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal. From 1906, when Italian immigrant Cesare Mondavi passed through Ellis Island, to the Robert Mondavi Corporation's twenty-first-century battle over a billion-dollar fortune, award-winning journalist Julia Flynn Siler brings to life both the place and the people in this riveting family drama.

The blood feuds are as spectacular as the business triumphs. Cesare's sons, Robert and Peter, literally came to blows in the 1960s during a dispute touched off by the purchase of a mink coat, resulting in Robert's exile from the family—and his subsequent founding of a winery that would set off a revolution in American winemaking. Robert's sons, Michael and Timothy, as passionate in their own ways as their visionary father, waged battle with each other for control of the company before Michael's expansive ambitions ultimately led to a board coup and the sale of the business to an international conglomerate.

A meticulously reported narrative based on thousands of hours of interviews, The House of Mondavi is bound to become a classic.

About Julia Flynn Siler

Julia Flynn Siler writes front-page stories for The Wall Street Journal from San Francisco, reporting extensively on the recent turbulence at the Robert Mondavi Corporation. She has also been a London-based foreign correspondent for the Journal and BusinessWeek, and has written for the New York Times. She is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on October 08, 2020

I’m not much of a wine 🍷 drinker but I did find this sweeping saga about the Mondavi family fascinating. There’s the poor, mostly uneducated immigrant couple that started it all, the college educated sons that dreamed of growing the business, and then the sibling rivalries, extravagant lifestyles, b......more

Goodreads review by Tom on August 28, 2021

The first few chapters didn’t impress me overall. It began with one of those modern moments in the life of the mogul and then it flashed back to the origin of the empire. The book seemed trite until I realized that the patterns of rise and fall are a part of human weakness. These kinds of stories sh......more

Goodreads review by Emma on September 09, 2019

The level of detail that the author captures in this book is pretty stunning, covering nearly a century of the Mondavi clan's history. I started the book because I wanted to learn more about wine and the role the Mondavis have played in the American wine scene. As others have pointed out, this reads......more

Goodreads review by Arlene on August 07, 2014

Having recently returned from a trip to Napa, I was interested in learning more about the famous Mondavi family, which has been an icon in the wine industry for several decades. Julia Flynn Siler’s portrayal of ‘The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty’ was a mesmerizing a......more

Goodreads review by Katie on November 15, 2007

This is a fascinating history of the most famous (and infamous) American wine dynasty, the Mondavis, and the rise and fall of their empire. The book spans 4 generations, and is divided into four parts: Foundation, Construction, Expansion, and the stunning finale, Demolition. The meticulously researc......more