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THE MESSAGE Milestone in the Mondavi Continuum I Tim (left) with Carissa, Dante, Marcia Mondavi Borger, Carlo and Chiara Mondavi as the first crush at their new Continuum winery gets under way. n its simplest form, a continuum is a whole made up of many parts. Tim Mondavi's Continuum includes his four children—Carissa, Carlo, Chiara and Dante—and sister Marcia Mondavi Borger, along with the winegrowing and winemaking teams at Continuum Estate, the family's Pritchard Hill winery, which was completed in time for the 2013 harvest. Among the well-wishers who were on hand to celebrate the completion of the working winery and a new era for the Mondavi family were former winemakers for Robert Mondavi Vineyards Warren Winiarski, Mike Grgich and Zelma Long and her husband Phillip Freese Mondavi, who has made Continuum with sourced fruit since 2005, purchased the estate on July 16, 2008—42 years to the day after his father Robert broke ground on his winery in Oakville. ─Deborah Parker Wong "The New Face of Burgundy" n 2007, when veteran wine industry executive Philippe Bardet took over the reins at Maison Louis Max, the venerable Burgundy négociant founded in 1859, it was with the vision to transform the producer into one of the region's bestknown brands. No small task in the modern day global sales market that seems much of the time to forget Burgundy's classically styled yet generally excellent offerings, for what it deems to be more affordable wines for the modern-day palate from other regions and countries. "History shows us that people love Burgundian wines," says Bardet, whose grandfather was the legendary producer Henri Mommesin, "but often they look elsewhere thinking the wines are unattainable, too expensive or, worse, they don't understand the labeling." Raising the bar at Louis Max has included obtaining organic certification for all proprietary vineyards, revamping the harvesting and winemaking techniques, and designing a series of eye-popping new labels with illustrator Pierre Le Tan, including the entry-level Beaucharme line (SRP $16), which is labeled varietally. "With a full range of offerings from all the classic appellations like Mercurey, Chablis, Meursault, Pouilly-Fuissé and others, Louis Max has something for everyone," adds Bardet, "and PHOTO: DAVID RANSOM PHOTO: DAVID RANSOM I Eric Litchfield, Import Sales Director, Slocum & Sons; Pamela Wittmann of Millissime; and Philippe Bardet, President of Maison Louis Max. we look forward to showing the world the new face of Burgundy." Maison Louis Max wines are imported by Slocum & Sons. —David Ransom 22 / the tasting panel / november 2013 TP1113_001-33.indd 22 10/24/13 8:47 AM