Editor’s Note:As many of you are well aware, Robert Mondavi died last week. Robert Mondavi was fundamental in helping to promote and define what California wine is today. Having read a dozens of wine tributes dedicated to his memory, Ryan and I equally wanted to share our thoughts too, but we didn’t feel as if we had anything new to add to the conversation. We never had the opportunity to meet him in person, nor did we have a memorable experience to share about his wine other than a few nice dinners. So we thought we’d pass the torch to a man who did know him both as a winemaker and as a friend. Fernando Melo is a well-known Portuguese wine journalist for both Blue Wine Magazine and a local weekly Portuguese magazine called Publica. Last week, while we were in Portugal, we met Fernando Melo for the first time in the Alentejo. In addition to Portuguese wine politics, and hearing about Fernando becoming a wine journalist, we shared our thoughts about Robert Mondavi’s passing. And after hearing his heartfelt story, we asked him if he would like to share it with all of you. We hope you enjoy the short piece he sent us, and we look forward to introducing you to Fernando in a future interview.

I interviewed Robert Mondavi when he turned 90, in Bordeaux, and we never lost contact ever since. He was sitting with his fantastic wife Margrit next to him, hand in hand, and it only took us 15 minutes – the actual time I was given by their PR for the whole interview – to switch places. Robert told the PR officer to cancel …