Continuum Estate

No name resonates more in Californian winemaking than Mondavi. The Mondavi family arrived in the USA in 1906 from Italy’s Marche region, and settled in Minnesota, far from wine country.

It was during prohibition, in 1919, that Cesare was tasked by his neighbours to source grapes from California to ship back, so they could take advantage of the home winemaking loophole, and ensure that every meal was accompanied by a glass of wine. Some 24 years later, Cesare was convinced by his son, Robert, to purchase Charles Krug winery in St Helena, where he and his brother could craft table wines.

In 1966, convinced of the ability of Napa to compete with the world’s greatest wines, Robert Mondavi built Robert Mondavi winery, from which he and his son, Tim, were to make their family name.

The family winery was sold in 2004, but Tim and his sister Marcia Mondavi Borger founded Continuum in 2005, following Robert’s mantra that “this is just the beginning”.

While for the first few vintages grapes were sourced from the famed site To Kalon on the valley floor, from 2008 and 2009 neighbouring parcels on Pritchard Hill were secured. This means that from the completion of the winery in 2013, Continuum is a single estate wine, grown and bottled in one place. As is befitting of the first family of Californian wine, this blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot is undoubtedly a Californian First Growth.

Novicium, meanwhile, is the second wine of the estate, first produced in 2010, and is the perfect introduction to this powerful site.