About the Author
Photograph: James O'Mara
Richard Mendelson’s lifelong engagement with wine began as a graduate student at Oxford, where an academic curiosity quickly became a personal passion. He moved to France to deepen his education and worked at Bouchard Aîné & Fils, a respected Burgundy winery, before returning to the United States in 1979 to attend Stanford Law School. Soon after he settled in Napa Valley, where he joined the firm of Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty and began a career devoted to wine law.
Over the decades, Mendelson has participated in nearly every dimension of the wine world, from growing grapes and making wine to advising growers and wineries on legal, land use, and appellation issues. His work has often centered on the preservation and promotion of Napa Valley as one of the world’s great wine regions. He founded and directed the Wine Law and Policy Program at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-founded the International Wine Law Association, serving as its president.
He is the author of several books, including 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. His creative pursuits extend beyond wine to sculpture and metalwork, reflected in his book Spirit in Metal. Mendelson and his wife Marilyn live in Napa Valley, where they remain closely connected to the land, the community, and their growing family of children and grandchildren.
