I consider myself a wine aficionado. Like thousands of other Americans, I cannot pass up a fine wine with dinner. But I also enjoy visiting wineries and relish tastings and the opportunity to sample different wines from around the world. And the practice of continually tasting and explaining the flavors on my tongue are translated into our lab where we do the same thing with chocolate and the drinks that we create.

I originally picked up “The House of Mondavi,” about Robert Mondavi’s iconic company, to learn how he revolutionized the wine industry in California.  But in the end, the book illustrated the rivalries and betrayals within the Mondavi family business and highlighted Mondavi’s smarts, charisma and character flaws that eventually were the company’s undoing.

Before Mondavi, California was mainly known for cheap jug wines. Mondavi founded his company in 1966 and brought to the U.S. varietal wines and superior wine-making techniques such as cold fermentation and the use of French oak barrels.

Mondavi’s story is a fascinating look at a family business that grew quickly and convinced millions of consumers to enjoy better wines than they had previously tasted. It is generally accepted that Mondavi was the catalyst behind the American movement toward the daily enjoyment of quality wine and food.

Mondavi was a brilliant, urbane salesman, but also a dysfunctional patriarch who refused to cede control of his company to his sons.  In the end, it is a very sad story. Mondavi’s sons were never able to step out of his shadow and run the company, which ultimately was sold.

The premise behind Mondavi’s lasting impact remains a critical pillar of successful business. Quality processes and techniques yield quality product. And good taste is something that can – and should - be enjoyed by everyone.  All of us in the specialty food industry owe a debt to Mondavi for helping educate people about the great potential of our unique products.  I raise my cup of coffee in tribute to Robert Mondavi.

This book is about the power of decentralized organizations; I decided to read it after seeing the co-author, Rod Beckstrom, at the annual Inc 500 conference.

Readers are asked to consider why, for example, Al Qaida is so powerful. How were they able to inflict such damage and emotional terror on Americans?  (As a frequent traveler, this is something I unfortunately think about every time I pass through security. The size limit on liquid and gel containers particularly impacts me since I can no longer travel with 12-ounce bottles of chocolate syrup samples for customers.  Since the gel ban, I think I have become one of UPS’s best customers.  And the last time I packed bottles in my checked baggage, all my syrups were confiscated.  In their place was a note from the TSA saying my bag had been examined. The business appointment that afternoon didn’t go so well!)

So the book looks at how decentralized, leaderless organizations with a strong sense of community can produce outsized, amazing results.  One of the examples is Wikipedia.  No real hierarchy, just people who want to contribute articles about myriad subjects and a self-policing community that ensures the articles are accurate.  One of the comments Beckstrom made in his talk was that, as organizations give up control, they have to increase their trust. When graphed, it looks like this:

As he spoke I kept nodding my head in agreement,; I realized how this applies to Mont Blanc’s business model. Because we use a number of regional production plants, our trust in the plants’ quality operations goes up and some of our control goes down. Giving up some control allows us to greatly expand our production capabilities.  But in the end, we still make and deliver on our promises.

Our unique business model has been key to keeping down costs and maintaining the same level of quality as we weather the current economic storm.

Maybe we are a starfish organization after all.