May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Robert Mondavi, namesake and founder of a northern California winery that helped establish the Napa Valley as a wine region ranking with France and Italy, has died. He was 94.

Mondavi died at his home earlier today in Yountville, California, according to Wine Spectator magazine's Web site.

Mondavi, who founded Robert Mondavi Winery in 1966 and oversaw its growth into a $500 million-a-year business, helped bring European winemaking techniques to the U.S., such as the use of French oak aging barrels and stainless-steel fermentation tanks.

The company, which became Robert Mondavi Corp. and began selling shares to the public in 1993, was acquired by Constellation Brands Inc., the world's largest wine company, based in Fairport, New York, in December 2004 for $1.35 billion. Robert Mondavi was chairman emeritus of the unit.

``From the outset, I wanted my winery to draw inspiration and methods from the traditional Old World chateaus of France and Italy, but I also wanted it to become a model of state-of- the-art technology, a pioneer in research and a gathering place for the finest minds in our industry,'' Mondavi wrote in his 1998 memoir, ``Harvests of Joy: How the Good Life Became Great Business.''

Family Business

Mondavi, the son of Italian immigrants, was born June 18, 1913, in Virginia, Minnesota, where his father ran a grocery store. The family later moved to Lodi, California. Mondavi graduated from Stanford University in California with a degree in economics and business in 1937.

Mondavi's father, Cesare, bought Napa Valley's Charles Krug Winery for $75,000 in 1943. Robert and his brother Peter operated the winery for 22 years. A dispute over how to run the business led Robert Mondavi to leave Krug in 1965.

A year later, he started his own winery in Oakville, the first built in the Napa Valley since Prohibition ended in 1933. Peter Mondavi and sons Marc and Peter Jr. still operate Krug.

In 1979, Robert Mondavi Corp. bought Woodbridge Winery in Lodi and formed a partnership with French winery Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA to create Opus One, a cabernet sauvignon-based red wine; some vintages sell for more than $350 a bottle.

Mondavi's children followed him into the business, and sons R. Michael Mondavi and Tim Mondavi were co-chairmen of the company. Daughter Marcia Mondavi Borger also worked for the company.

Industry Indebted

Robert Mondavi Corp. revenue for the year ended June 30, 2004, the last full year before the Constellation acquisition, was $468.1 million after peaking at $505.8 million three years earlier. Mondavi Corp. was the sixth-largest U.S. winery in 2003, selling 9.7 million cases that year, according to Wine Business Monthly.

``The entire wine industry owes Robert Mondavi a huge debt of gratitude,'' Richard Arrowood, whose Arrowood Vineyards in Sonoma County, California, was purchased by Mondavi in 2000, said in a 2004 interview with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. ``He brought all of us in the business to the party, making California wines world-class players.''

Mondavi Corp. had been planning to sell its luxury wine division, which included its namesake brand, and Arrowood to raise $500 million and focus on less expensive brands, such as Woodbridge, when it was approached by Constellation in 2004.

The sale netted the Mondavi family an estimated $365 million, according to the Press Democrat.

In 2001, Robert Mondavi and his wife, Margrit, donated $25 million to establish the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Service at the University of California, Davis.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Greiff in New York at jgreiff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 16, 2008 18:00 EDT