Robert Mondavi’s claims to fame were various, but it is his creation of the Fumé Blanc style of wine and decision to place his eponymous winery alongside one of California’s most cherished vineyards, To Kalon, that confirm his status as a bona fide legend of American winemaking. To visit the estate that he founded in 1966 is to walk through a part of history. Before Robert Mondavi came along, Californian Sauvignon Blancs were mostly sweet and not especially well regarded. Taking inspiration from those produced in the Loire, where oak maturation is commonplace, and the appellation of Pouilly-Fumé specifically, Mondavi created a dry, richly flavoured Sauvignon Blanc aged in oak barrels that married Californian concentration with French finesse. Smoky, sometimes spicy, often creamy, the exact type and level of oak influence may differ among producers today but the Fumé Blanc moniker is internationally recognized, and where better to sample it than the very place it was created, back in 1968, and from what are believed to be some of America’s oldest Sauvignon Blanc vines in existence?