In the many years we worked together, Robert Mondavi taught me a whole array of valuable lessons. Think big, dream big! Pour your heart and soul into whatever you do! Stay positive and focused; that's the way to lead, that's the way to inspire others. And when you make a mistake, learn the lesson, then pick yourself up and get back to work! Nobody ever did anything great by wallowing in defeat or taking "No!" for an answer.
		It took me a long time to truly understand Robert. He was a brilliant businessman. An absolute genius at marketing and promotion. And as his pal Mike Grgich likes to say, "Robert could sell refrigerators to Eskimos!" While all that is true, what I finally came to understand is that at his core Robert was an artist, a creator. He made wines, he built stunning buildings, he created a revolution in the American wine industry. And with his wife Margrit, he tirelessly supported a generation of painters, sculptors, designers, chefs, landscape artists, and flower arrangers. Through the Oxbow School, Bob and Margrit also touched the lives of scores of young people who came to Napa to explore their own artistic gifts. Almost all of them left Oxbow feeling validated and empowered; what finer gift could the Mondavis bestow?
		We paid tribute to Robert and his spirit in "Abbondanza, The Life of Robert Mondavi," a documentary film that premiered on KRON TV on October 23rd, 2005. "Abbondanza" is an Italian word meaning "Abundance," and I believe it is a fitting metaphor for the life and work of Robert Mondavi. He thought big, dreamed big, and created big – for him the Napa Valley and life itself were giant canvases that needed to be filled with color and light, with good taste and good cheer, and, above all, with positive energy and spirit. With joy and generosity, he poured himself into that task – and California and each of us who live here is the richer for it. Thank you, Bob, for showing us the way.

	In June of 2000, I sat down to one of my regular lunches with Robert Mondavi. Bob was in ebullient form, warm, charming and charismatic, and we were enjoying a splendid lunch outdoors, right beside one of his vineyards. With our opening course of scallops we drank a lovely Mondavi Fume Blanc Reserve, and then with our filet mignon we sampled a real treat: a Pinot Noir Reserve from the Mondavis' vineyards in the Carneros region, at the mouth of the Napa Valley. The Pinot was marvelous, and Bob became rapturous, talking about how far he and his fellow pioneers in the Napa Valley had come in 30 years – and how far they still had to go. To me, this was Bob at his finest: passionate, enthusiastic, and full of both can-do spirit and a relentless drive to do even better. I love that spirit. And I said to him, "Bob, I sure hope somebody has you on film, you and all your passion!" As it turned out, no one did have Robert on film, not in any depth, and at that moment a great adventure began. James B. Rigler, a colleague of mine, had long been pressing me to get Robert on film, and now we began in earnest to do just that. We hired a film crew from George Lucas's shop and began what would become a five-year project of capturing Robert's life story on film. To finish the film in the best possible style, I turned to one of the true masters of documentary film: Ken Swartz of KRON TV in San Francisco. Ken has won an Emmy and a raft of other awards, and he took our film in hand, shaped it, and with his team imbued it not just with his talent and experience, but also with his heart and soul. Ken captured the essence and spirit of Robert Mondavi and made him come alive on screen. Watching Ken work was for me an ongoing exercise in humility. I've been writing professionally for almost 40 years, but I'm a print guy: writing for the screen is an entirely different art form. And Ken is a master at it. It was both a joy and an education to watch him work. After all my years in journalism and writing books, playing in television and documentary film has been a fascinating experience. I'm not ready to abandon ink for images, but I am toying with an idea for more documentary films, a whole series of them in fact. What will be the subject? That's a secret. Shhhhhh...... Paul Chutkow