Winemaker Robert Mondavi at the 26th annual Auction Napa Valley on June 3, 2006, in St. Helena, Calif. (Associated Press/George Nikitin, Departures Magazine)

Robert Mondavi, the pioneering vintner who put California wine country on the global map, has died. He was 94.

Mondavi died peacefully at his home in Yountville, Calif., on Friday, said Mia Malm, spokeswoman for the Robert Mondavi Winery.

An enthusiastic ambassador for the health benefits of moderate consumption of wine, and of California wine in particular, Mondavi had travelled the world into his 90s, promoting the cultural and social benefits of wine.

Born in Virginia, Minn., Mondavi got an economics degree from Stanford University in California in the 1930s and went to work at the Charles Krug Winery, which his Italian-born parents had bought after moving to California from Minnesota.

For 20 years, the winery was a family business. But Robert and Peter, his younger brother by 14 months, clashed frequently. Robert Mondavi had ambitious plans for the winery; Peter Mondavi had a more conservative style. According to Robert Mondavi's autobiography Harvests of Joy, matters came to a head in November 1965 when the brothers got into a fist fight.

"When it was all over, there were no apologies and no handshake," wrote Robert Mondavi.

A long and bitter legal fight ensued.

In 1966, at the age of 52 and using borrowed money, Mondavi started over, opening his own winery.

There, he championed the use of cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels. He introduced blind tastings in Napa Valley. His winery was also among the first to go public.

Always convinced that California wines could compete with the European greats, Mondavi engaged in the first French-American wine venture when he formed a limited partnership with the legendary French vintner Baron Philippe de Rothschild to grow and make the ultra-premium Opus One at Oakville, Calif. The venture's first vintage was in 1979.

The winery struggled from rising competition among other things in the mid-1990s and the company was bought out by Constellation Brands for $1.3 billion US in 2004.