Diary

Robert Mondavi's Napa Valley house up for auction

By Giulia Cambieri

If you’re a wine connoisseur who's looking for a real estate investment, you could be in luck, as the house where Robert Mondavi, founder of California’s most famous winery, lived will be auctioned off on 16 November.

The house, immersed in Napa Valley, north of San Francisco, spans over 11,500 sq ft and is surrounded by 57 acres of vineyards and hills. It features a 50ft-long indoor swimming pool, a state-of-the-art kitchen and two lighted tennis courts.

However, the house, designed in 1979 by southern California architect Cliff May, only has one bedroom, which may explain why the property has not found a buyer despite being on the market since May 2010 and why the asking price for the property is $13.9 million (€10.1 million), a 44% reduction on the original price of $25 million.

Mondavi, who died in 2008 at the age of 94, founded the winery named after himself in 1966 after a feud with his brother forced him to leave the Charles Krug Winery, which his family owned.

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