Critical Studies in Food and Culture

On February 7, 2008 the DHI Research Cluster: Critical Studies in Food and Culture presents…

The Future of Wine History:
a discussion on the position of culture in
Robert Mondavi’s Mission.

a screening of

The Mission
(Crowley & Associates/Mediawest, 1989)

with an introduction by

Axel Borg
Wine Bibliography and Librarian
University of California, Davis

and commentary and discussion with

David Michalski
Graduate Student in Cultural Studies
University of California, Davis

Thursday 4-6pm
February 7th, 2008
3201 Hart Hall
UC Davis

In the late 1980s the Robert Mondavi Winery embarked upon a project known as the Mission. Part public relations campaign and part manifesto, the Mission called on the California wine industry to promote wine as a steadfast companion to humanity. It insisted, that in the hands of master craftspeople, wine could be as distinguished and as noble as any of the arts.

For Robert Mondavi, the advancement of wine quality in California depended on this promotion of wine’s cultural legacy, one that connected the work of Californian vintners to a history of wine that stretched back to antiquity and continued through the great estates of modern France.

Against neo-prohibitionists and others, the Robert Mondavi winery drew from the history of the arts to establish wine as an aesthetic object, endowed with positive cultural values.

In this presentation we will screen one part of this larger campaign, a ten minute film called _The Mission_ wherein the Mondavi family makes its case that wine quality and a knowledge and understanding of wine culture are coextensive.

The film will be introduced by Axel Borg, who will historicize _The Mission_ by providing the context of its making, as well as insight into the relations between Robert Mondavi, the wider California wine industry, and the University of California, Davis.

Following the screening, David Michalski will lead a commentary and discussion on the concept of history and culture introduced in _The Mission_, the implications such conceptions have for wine aesthetics, and the possibilities they present to our contemporary understanding of wine and wine history.