Fifty years ago this month, the landscape of Napa Valley changed when Robert Mondavi opened his winery along California Route 29 in Oakville. The winery's Mission-style archway quickly became an iconic symbol of California wine, and Mondavi and those who worked with him forged a revolution not only in Napa but also across the country, transforming the way Americans buy and drink wine.

Mondavi's was the first major winery to open in Napa since Prohibition, and it ignited a wave of expansion across a valley where, at the time, more land was devoted to plum trees than to grapevines. Visiting wineries was not a new pastime in the 1960s, but Mondavi's tireless promotion of Napa and its wines helped turn the valley into the tourist mecca it is today.

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Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/