In 1989, inspired by their Italian heritage, the Robert Mondavi family began experimenting with California-grown Italian varietals. The result was La Famiglia; food friendly wines with the fruit expression of California vineyards. When Robert Mondavi Winery was sold to a publicly traded wine company based in New York, we saw an opportunity to acquire the unique La Famiglia brand.

    We rethought the brand from the ground up and set out to craft special wines. Seeking the best possible fruit sources for the two varietals, we eventually selected several eminent Russian River vineyards in Sonoma Valley for the Pinot Grigio and Snows Lake Vineyard in the Red Hills Lake County appellation for the Barbera. These unique first-class vineyards and small lot winemaking meant lower production levels as we dramatically reduced production from 18,000 cases a year to less than 3,000 cases a year.

   The wines are made at Armida Winery in the hills above Healdsburg, with the same attention to quality and detail we give our single vineyard designated wines. Finally, the packaging needed to match the quality levels of the new La Famiglia wines themselves so we created elegant and sophisticated labels and bottles.