Robert Mondavi celebrated

Robert Mondavi’s wish upon his death was for people to gather at his namesake winery in the Napa Valley and enjoy a big party.

That came true Saturday as hundreds gathered for a celebration that was part New Orleans jazz festival, part classical concerto and part homey Italian sing-along.

The eclectic nature of the performances would have appealed to Mondavi, who was famous both as a pioneering winemaker and for his generosity of spirit.

His death May 16 at the age of 94 capped a remarkable life, which included overseeing operations at the Oakville winery he founded in 1966 and nurtured to international acclaim.

Tony Cartlidge said if it weren’t for a book he read in 1979, in which Mondavi outlined his vision for California winemaking, he might never have left his job driving a cement mixer and moved to the Napa Valley, where he now is president of Cartlidge & Browne Winery in American Canyon.

“If he had not achieved what he had, I wouldn’t have come here. He transcended his own self-interest,” said Cartlidge, who attended Saturday's celebration with his wife, Sarah Forni.

For all of his fame, Mondavi was self-effacing in person, according to Asher Raboy, the director of the Napa Valley Symphony.

“You didn’t have lunch with a legend,” Raboy said. “You had lunch with Bob.”

Raboy led 22 members of the symphony’s string section in a performance of the “spaghetti medley,” which included “That’s Amore” and “Volare.”

The tribute was preceded by performances by a high school jazz band, Mexican folk dancers and a 14-year- old piano prodigy from New York City named Conrad Tao.

Still to come Saturday night was New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which was making its 38th appearance at the Robert Mondavi Summer Music Festival, which started Saturday and runs through Aug. 2.

Margrit Mondavi said her husband told her he wanted the band to play at his public memorial, and that he wanted people to drink and celebrate.

“I don’t want anybody to be sad,” his wife said he told her.

Nobody seemed morose Saturday as they sipped wine and munched on Cajun beef sliders, petite muffuletta sandwiches and chocolate bourbon cupcakes.

Winery employees brought in 56 additional cases of fume blanc — a varietal Mondavi invented — to pour for guests, many of them tourists who happened upon Saturday’s event and were pleasantly surprised to find that the food, wine and musical performances were gratis.

An estimated 300,000 people visit the Oakville winery every year, making it the Napa Valley’s most popular winery destination. On Saturday, that was reflected by the number of people who were adorned in their native dress and speaking a range of dialects.

And then there was Larry Dalin, a tire salesman who hails from Weed near the Oregon border and wore a T-shirt that read, “Woody’s Texas Hold ’Em.”

Mondavi’s appeal extends to people like Dalin, who labeled himself a “consumer, not a connoisseur.”

In the Vineyard Room, visitors signed a guest book and read proclamations from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and others honoring Mondavi.

The afternoon celebration ended with Margrit Mondavi taking the stage to say thank you and to proclaim the day’s honoree as “the love of my life.”