Continuum

Siblings Tim and Marcia Mondavi established the Continuum project in 2005, after their family winery (Robert Mondavi Winery) was taken over by Constellation. The aim was to craft top Cabernet blends that would continue the Mondavi legacy. The first vintages were made with purchased fruit, largely from To Kalon and other Mondavi vineyards that Tim had worked with for 30 years.

In 2008, the duo managed to purchase a property that had been owned by marine biologist Leighton Taylor and his wife Linda, with Linda’s brother owning another plot of land above theirs. The first vines had been planted in 1991, with help from the Chappellets. On the eastern side of Napa, up on Pritchard Hill, above Dalla Valle and neighbouring Colgin, the property sits above the fog line, between 1,300 and 1,600 feet altitude, with rocky, red volcanic soils. They named it Sage Mountain Vineyard, after the predominance of wild sage in the area.

Gradually as the team refined the farming of the site, regrafted and replanted sections, fruit from Sage Mountain Vineyard was included and from 2012 the wine has been sourced exclusively from the estate vineyards. In 2013 the new winery was built on the estate, making that the first vintage of Continuum as a true “estate” wine.

The property totals 173 acres, with 70 planted to vines, divided between 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot. Most of the vines that exist today were planted in 1996.

The proportion of Cabernet Franc in the blends has gradually increased, with Tim favouring the aromatics and finesse of this variety, particularly on hillside sites. The fruit is all hand-harvested, de-stemmed, sorted by bunch and berry before being fermented in oak and concrete tanks. There is a three-day cold soak, with the wine spending 20-40 days on skins in total, depending on the vintage, and a combination of pump-overs and délestage for extraction. It’s then basket-pressed and spends 22 months in around two-thirds new oak. The wines are concentrated, pure and elegant, with a distinct saline minerality, and floral tones that emerge with air.

For a long time, the property only made a “Grand Vin”, Continuum, but they introduced their second wine, Novicium, in 2010, once they felt the reputation of the site and project had been established, using fruit from younger plots.

All of Tim Mondavi’s children have worked at Continuum at one point or another. Carlo and Dante have gone on to create their own project, Raen, while Chiara has taken over as winemaker at Continuum, ensuring it remains a family business.