Continuum Estate

Continuum Estate was founded in 2005 by Tim Mondavi, his sister Marcia Mondavi Borger, and their father Robert Mondavi, the year after the 2004 sale of Robert Mondavi Winery to Constellation Brands. The family's own account of that sale describes it as forced: the long-term work of fine winemaking, in their telling, was a poor fit with the quarterly demands of a publicly traded company. The earliest vintages, 2005 through 2007, were produced from fruit sourced at the To Kalon Vineyard while the family searched for permanent land. The family acquired contiguous parcels on the slopes of Pritchard Hill in 2008 and 2009, combining two existing properties, Versant (founded by former architect Richard Martin) and Cloudview (founded by former marine biologist Leighton Taylor), into what became Sage Mountain Vineyard. The winery, designed by Backen, Gillam and Kroeger Architects, opened in time for the 2013 harvest, the same year the flagship wine was first vinified on site.

• Founded 2005 by Tim Mondavi, Marcia Mondavi Borger, and Robert Mondavi, the year after the sale of Robert Mondavi Winery to Constellation Brands
• First three vintages (2005-2007) produced with To Kalon Vineyard fruit while the family searched for permanent land
• Pritchard Hill property acquired in 2008 and 2009, combining the former Versant and Cloudview parcels into Sage Mountain Vineyard
• Winery designed by Backen, Gillam and Kroeger Architects; opened for the 2013 harvest, which was also the first flagship vintage vinified on site

Continuum is led today by Tim and Marcia Mondavi Borger's families, continuing a Mondavi winemaking history that the family describes as spanning four generations, traced back to Cesare Mondavi's first grape-sourcing venture in 1919. Tim, born in 1951 and trained in enology and viticulture at UC Davis, led the winemaking team at Robert Mondavi Winery from 1974 to 2004, during which he developed the Opus One joint venture with Chateau Mouton Rothschild and helped create the Luce (Italy) and Sena (Chile) joint ventures. The fourth generation is active in the estate's daily work today: Carissa Mondavi, involved in communications, marketing, hospitality and sales, and Dante Mondavi, a fourth-generation winegrower who joined Continuum in 2007 managing the cellar and today serves the estate as its West Coast sales contact. Dante co-founded RAEN winery on the Sonoma Coast in 2013 with his brother Carlo, who also co-founded the autonomous-tractor company Monarch Tractor and is not directly involved in Continuum day to day. A fifth sibling, Dominic, works as a graphic artist and designer and is likewise not directly involved. Chiara Mondavi, Tim's daughter, painted the shadow-drawing label art used on Continuum's bottles and serves as winegrower leading Sentium, the fourth generation's own Sauvignon Blanc project. On the winemaking side, Tim brought on viticulturist Ashton Leutner and winemaker Steven Nelson in 2018, according to a 2025 Wine Spectator feature on the estate.

• Tim and Marcia Mondavi Borger's families continue a Mondavi winemaking history the family describes as spanning four generations, back to Cesare Mondavi's 1919 grape-sourcing venture
• Tim Mondavi, UC Davis-trained, led Robert Mondavi Winery's winemaking team from 1974 to 2004, including developing Opus One with Chateau Mouton Rothschild
• Carissa Mondavi works across communications, marketing, hospitality and sales; Dante Mondavi joined in 2007 and now handles West Coast sales
• Chiara Mondavi painted the estate's label art and leads the family's Sentium project; winemaker Steven Nelson and viticulturist Ashton Leutner joined the team in 2018

Continuum's production comes from Sage Mountain Vineyard, a 173-acre property on Pritchard Hill on Napa Valley's eastern side. Of that total, 71 acres are planted to vine, divided into 45 separate 1- to 2-acre blocks, each farmed individually for its own soil, aspect and elevation. Vineyard elevations run from 1,325 to 1,600 feet, keeping the vines above the valley fog line; the estate describes the site as catching warm nighttime air rising from the valley floor and cooling San Francisco Bay breezes by day. Soils are red, rocky and volcanic, low in fertility and described by the estate as forcing the vines to struggle. Current plantings are 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot. Reported yields have varied significantly over time: a 2023 visit by Wine Independent critic Lisa Perrotti-Brown cited an average of around 1.8 tons per acre, down to as little as half a ton per acre in the difficult 2015 vintage, while a 2025 Wine Spectator feature described yields as having climbed to typically around 2.5 tons per acre as farming practices matured after that low point. The estate also grows about an acre of olives, more than 553 trees of six varieties (Frontaio, Redding, Sevillano, Picholine, Mission and Pendolino), hand-harvested and pressed locally since 2008; a planting of 100-year-old olive trees near the winery, called Robert's Grove, honors Robert Mondavi, according to the Napa Wine Project.

• 173 total acres on Pritchard Hill; 71 acres planted, divided into 45 separate 1- to 2-acre blocks
• Elevation 1,325 to 1,600 feet on rocky, low-vigor volcanic soils above the fog line
• Current plantings: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot, 5% Merlot
• Yields have ranged from about half a ton per acre in 2015 to roughly 1.8 tons per acre by 2023 (Wine Independent) and around 2.5 tons per acre by 2025 (Wine Spectator)
• About an acre of olives, 553-plus trees of six varieties, hand-harvested since 2008; Robert's Grove of 100-year-old olive trees honors Robert Mondavi

Continuum's portfolio centers on two wines: the flagship Bordeaux-style blend and a second wine called Novicium. All grapes are hand-harvested and hand-sorted, then fed by gravity into a mix of oak and concrete fermentation vessels, including Taransaud and Francois Freres oak foudres ranging from 2.5 to 8 tons and concrete vessels of 3 to 6 tons; stainless steel is used only for racking or blending. The wines age in French oak barriques, about two-thirds new, typically for 20 to 22 months, and are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Estate fruit has grown to define the flagship wine gradually: the 2008 vintage was 71% estate fruit, 2011 reached 98.5%, and every vintage from 2012 onward has been 100% estate-grown, according to a 2023 Wine Independent profile. No flagship wine was produced in 2020; the Wine Independent attributes this to the proximity of that year's Hennessey Fire, while the Napa Wine Project attributes it to smoke taint from the Glass Fire. Novicium, launched with the 2010 vintage, draws on fruit from younger estate vines and, per the Napa Wine Project, has typically carried a large share of Cabernet Franc; the estate's own site describes the wine's direction shifting toward a more classic Cabernet Sauvignon expression in recent vintages, with the 2023 Novicium blended at 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Merlot. The 2023 flagship Continuum, Tim Mondavi's 50th vintage as winemaker for the family, is a blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 41% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot. The winery, designed with architect Howard Backen and UC Davis's Roger Boulton, harvests roof rainwater for its winemaking needs and hosts early carbon-capture research trials. As of 2025, the estate has tunneled roughly 11,000 square feet of caves into the hillside for barrel aging and has a hospitality-space remodel underway, both expected to be complete by 2027, per the Napa Wine Project.

• Hand-harvested, hand-sorted, gravity-fed into oak foudres and concrete vessels; aged in French oak (about two-thirds new) for 20 to 22 months; bottled unfined and unfiltered
• Estate fruit share rose from 71% (2008) to 98.5% (2011) to 100% every vintage from 2012 onward
• No flagship wine made in 2020; sources differ on whether the Hennessey Fire or the Glass Fire was responsible for that year's smoke exposure
• Novicium launched with the 2010 vintage from younger estate vines; 2023 Novicium is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, up from a blend historically weighted more toward Cabernet Franc
• As of 2025, about 11,000 square feet of caves tunneled into the hillside, with a hospitality remodel underway, both expected complete by 2027

Continuum Estate occupies a distinct position in Napa Valley: a single-minded, family-owned Pritchard Hill estate producing one flagship wine and one second label, available to collectors through the estate's own mailing list and allocation program, with additional distribution in select US markets and parts of Asia and Europe. The Mondavi name carries significant weight in California wine history, and Continuum represents the family's fourth generation applying that experience to a relatively young hillside vineyard. Critics have responded well to the wine in recent vintages: James Suckling scored the 2021 vintage 99 points and the 2022 vintage 98 points, and the 2021 vintage was named among James Suckling's Top 100 World Wines of 2024. A July 2025 Wine Spectator feature framed the estate's story as a decade-plus learning curve in adapting Tim Mondavi's winemaking, developed on the Napa valley floor, to the low-vigor, high-elevation volcanic conditions of Sage Mountain Vineyard. The estate's Cabernet Franc plantings, 30% of the vineyard and 41% of the 2023 flagship blend, are a defining part of that site expression, and its single-estate sourcing since 2012 ties every bottle to one specific hillside above the Napa fog line.

• One of Napa Valley's prominent Pritchard Hill estates, producing a single flagship wine plus one second label from volcanic hillside soils distinct from the valley floor
• 2021 vintage scored 99 points by James Suckling and named to Suckling's Top 100 World Wines of 2024; 2022 vintage scored 98 points by James Suckling
• Cabernet Franc plays a defining role in the site's expression: 30% of plantings, 41% of the 2023 flagship blend
• Available to collectors through the estate's own mailing list and allocation program, with additional distribution in select US markets and parts of Asia and Europe

Primary: continuumestate.com (home, foundation, our-site, winegrowing, wine, wine/novicium, wine/sentium, wine/olive-oil, hospitality, trade, wine/continuum-past-vintages, wine/sentium-past-vintages, plus Tim Mondavi, Carissa Mondavi and Dante Mondavi biography PDFs, the Mondavi family timeline PDF, and James Suckling score cards for the 2021 and 2022 vintages hosted on the trade page). Secondary: Napa Wine Project (napawineproject.com/continuum-estate), The Wine Independent (Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, June 2023), Wine Spectator (James Molesworth, July 2025, PDF reprint hosted on the producer's trade page), and JamesSuckling.com's Top 100 World Wines 2024 feature. Last verified 2026-09-09.