For the Mondavis, it's all in the family, again...

Now Michael Mondavi is 62 years old and, for the first time, not working with his father. He has learned some lessons, he says, and is not about to make the same mistakes again. So what next?

Michael Mondavi has gone into business with his family. With his wife, Isabel, and his children, Rob and Dina, he has formed Folio Fine Wine Partners, which he hopes will make its mark as an importer, a producer and a consultant to small, family-owned wineries.

Not that he's a glutton for punishment. Mondavi said that before they took the plunge, he and his family sat down and made sure they were in accord on their objectives and strategies. And he said he had found a role model in the Frescobaldi family, which has maintained an Italian wine dynasty for centuries and with whom the Robert Mondavi Corp. had worked closely.

"The good news is, we're learning about that and hope we'll make different mistakes in the future," he said. "The sad news is that we, the Mondavi family, didn't learn that 20 years ago."

Folio began its life late last year with a roster of Italian wines to import, wines that Michael Mondavi had originally brought to the Mondavi Corp. They include the prestigious Ornellaia and Masseto labels, the entire Frescobaldi portfolio of Tuscan wines, and those of three other producers, Luce, Danzante and Attems.

Folio is also producing wines under a half-dozen different names under the supervision of Rob Mondavi. These include dry, tangy pinot grigios and zinfandels under the Bocce label, which sell for about $10; likable pinot noirs and chardonnays under the Hangtime label for about $15; and a surprisingly dense, rich Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon for $20 under the Oberon label.

In addition, Isabel Mondavi supervises production of a pleasant rose called I'M, while Rob Mondavi, with his wife, Lydia, and another couple, Paul and Patti Hoffman, make a juicy petite sirah called Spellbound, and a handful of single-vineyard zinfandels called Medusa. If the wines share a trait, it is that they are not only charmingly modest, but modest in alcohol for California - largely 13 to 14 percent in an era when many Napa wines are hard-pressed to stay below 15 percent.

If Robert Mondavi's goal back in the 1970s was to demonstrate that Napa Valley wines could stand with the best wines in the world, Michael Mondavi is taking his cue from his grandmother Rosa, who, he said, just wanted wines that tasted good, the proverbial simple but honest wines.

"These are wines for people who like food," Mondavi said, offering a sentiment that, if not exactly original, is still in sharp contrast to the prevailing Napa ideal of concentrated, powerful worldbeaters.

Not that Mondavi is unambitious. He had wanted to make his own fine wine, too, from grapes grown in a 20-acre vineyard he owns on Atlas Peak on the east side of the valley. But he was concerned about the prospects for a startup winery at a time when industry consolidation has made it more difficult for small independent winemakers to get their bottles into retail shops and onto restaurant wine lists.

"The gatekeepers - the restaurateurs and the retailers - they have so many people coming to them selling wines that they're being driven crazy," Mondavi said. And so came his plan for the consulting end of Folio.

The idea was to act as an agency for small family wineries, representing their interests to the wholesale distributors who place brands in the retail world. The aim, as Mondavi puts it, is to increase the "share of mind" that distributors, who might handle 2,000 brands, give the little guys.

But Mondavi didn't want to stop at marketing. He wanted to use his background in viticulture and winemaking as well. And then there were all the unlovely tasks that burden the wine business, which, though romanticized as the epitome of the good life - Robert Mondavi had a little something to do with that - have more in common with an auto-parts concern than with strolling the vineyards in the late-afternoon sun.

"Our thought was, let's not just be in the marketing and selling of wines," he said. "Let's consult with them on viticulture, oenology, human resources, purchasing health insurance, buying diesel fuel or labels. If the small grower can gain some of these economies of scale and can lower their costs, then they will be able to offer better value."

This one-stop shopping approach has not yet taken off, but Mondavi believes it will over time. "It's really the great wines of Frescobaldi and Ornellaia and Masseto that give us the stature to set up as a fledgling company in California," he said.

Looking back at the Robert Mondavi denouement, Michael Mondavi has one regret that, surprisingly, has little to do with family relationships. After the company went public in 1993, he said, he did not do a good job of encouraging employees to participate in the company's stock-purchasing plan. "When the company was sold," he said, "the family did very well, a number of the senior executives did very well, but a lot of people who were really dedicated to Robert Mondavi didn't benefit."

This time, at Folio, Mondavi has divided 12 percent of the company among the 27 nonfamily employees, and says that 12 percent figure will probably double over the years. "I wanted to make sure we shared everything in a transparent way," he said.

Mondavi may have the hard-won knowledge that is born of regrets, but his son, Rob, 34, says he has no qualms about a family business, regardless of the Mondavi history. Rather than the competitive spirit that boiled over in the relationships of Robert, Michael and Tim Mondavi, there is understanding and encouragement, Rob says.

"It's been incredibly liberating for our family to run a business as it should be run and not have to worry about the politics of the recent past," he said.

Michael Mondavi says his father, now 93, thinks Folio is exciting, though he does shake his head about starting over again. And he says there is good news regarding Tim and their sister, Marcia Mondavi Boger, who was also a major shareholder in the company.

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