The House of Mondavi
The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty

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

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

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

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

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