Harvests of Joy by Robert Mondavi with Paul Chutkow

After seeing the movie Mondovino written and directed by American film maker Jonathan Nossiter, (digression: I have to admit that I feel asleep about halfway through the movie during 4 separate times, the 5th showing was the charm, my husband claims he knows Mondovino by heart), I did not have many nice thoughts about Robert Mondavi. I guess the lesson to me is that I need to be more well versed in all aspects of the industry. Reading the book Napa The Story of an American Eden by James Conaway lead me to pick up Robert Mondavi's book, Harvests of Joy. Mondavi minces no words here and gives an accurate portrayal of himself and his relationship with his family. It's clear that he loved wine, winemaking and growing grapes and in that context was a generous person. Sometimes, I thought that the book gave too much credit to his influence early on in Napa Valley, but I wasn't there and so I need to do more reading to get a balanced view. Robert Mondavi's generosity lives on in the funding he provided to UC Davis. When we were at the Unified Grape and Wine Syposium earlier this year, we saw the complex under construction.
The book was an easy read and gave me insight into an American icon in the wine industry.