About the Author
Richard Mendelson fell in love with wine as a graduate student at Oxford. From there he moved to France to deepen his education and work at Bouchard Aïné et Fils, a prestigious winery in Burgundy. He returned to America in 1979 to attend Stanford Law School and then moved to Napa Valley to practice wine law at Napa’s leading firm, Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty.
Mendelson has been involved in every aspect of the wine industry—from growing grapes and making wine to advising grape growers and wineries on a wide range of issues, especially how best to promote and defend Napa Valley as America’s premier wine appellation. Mendelson founded and directed the Wine Law and Policy Program at UC Berkeley and co-founded and was President of the International Wine Law Association.
Mendelson has written three other books on wine: From Demon to Darling: A Legal History of Wine in America; Wine in America: Law and Policy, and Appellation Napa Valley: Building and Protecting an American Treasure. He also wrote a book, Spirit in Metal, about his art journey and sculptures. Mendelson and his wife Marilyn are parents and grandparents, and they live in Napa.
