Charles Krug Winery might have been an historic landmark, birthplace of the Napa Valley wine industry, but for kids its buildings just made one great playground. As Peter Mondavi and his sons, Peter Jr. and Marc, unveiled the renovation project at Krug last Saturday, the sons and their cousins recalled childhood adventures in and round the 1872 redwood cellar and the 1881 carriage house.

Founded in 1861, Charles Krug was Napa Valley’s first winery. Cesare Mondavi purchased the winery in 1943, and ran it with his sons Peter and Robert, whose children grew up there.

A dinner and dance marked the unveiling of the $8 million, two-year project, a highlight of which was the reusing of the redwood planks from old fermentation tanks to create the floor and soaring cathedral ceiling on the second floor of the carriage house, where the event took place.

“This was our playground as kids,” Peter Jr.  noted, surveying the refurbished carriage house. “Forty years later, it’s still our playground. The redwood tanks as we knew them are gone, but have returned under foot and above us.”

His cousin Michael Mondavi remembered lying atop a huge redwood barrel in the cellar to watch Jean Simmons and Rock Hudson film a scene from “Wild in the Country.” Years later, he met Simmons in Paris, he said, and he judged his  youthful crush on the actress well founded.

At Saturday night’s celebration, Marc and Peter Mondavi Jr. paid tribute to their father as they unveiled a bronze bust of the patriarch created by Ed Voelkel of Healdsburg. It will have a place of honor on the second floor of the carriage house, which will serve as a hospitality center for winery clients and guests.

“One hundred and fifty years ago Charles Krug laid a cornerstone for the Napa Valley wine industry and it has become an enduring family legacy,” Peter Jr said.

Before the dinner a reception took place in the redwood cellar, where the reserve wines will now be aged. 

As part of the project, which included earthquake seismic retrofitting, historical architect Naomi Miroglio found stone to repair the pink rhyolite used in the foundation, the trim for 80 windows, and every doorway, arch, base and corner of the two buildings. The stone was originally mined between 1870 and 1871 from a well-kept-secret location in the valley, as was the custom of the day.

Heritage olive trees, believed to be 150 years old and likely planted by Krug werereplanted near the winery’s front entrance.

In a celebratory gesture, Peter Mondavi Sr. placed a new sphere-topped spire atop the Redwood Cellar’s belvedere.

The renovation project at Charles Krug is part of a complete recasting of the venerable winery. Having extensively replanted its vineyards with a focus on red Bordeaux varietals, the family is now practicing 100 percent organic and sustainable viticulture on its 850 acres of vineyards in the valley, seven of which have earned organic certification. 

Peter Jr. reminded celebration attendees — including family, friends, industry associates and media — that the philosophy of founders Cesare and Rosa Mondavi was “a life well lived ... that included wine, food and family.”

Offering a toast with the appropriately named Krug wine, Generations, the youngest son of Peter and Blanche Mondavi asked all present “to remember Uncle Bob, whose spirit is still with us in the winery.”

Marc Mondavi also paid tribute to his father for making Charles Krug Winery a vital part of the Napa Valley wine industry.

“This family and company have gone through trying times,” Marc said. He remembered his father sitting down with his sons and asking them if they wanted “to keep or sell the winery. If we sell it, we can retire. If  we keep it, it will mean a lot of hard work.”

He noted that the decision to keep Charles Krug Winery in the family was a good one, one that has now seen his daughter, Angelina, come into the wine business. (Angelina Mondavi is assistant winemaker at Pine Ridge Winery at present.)

“This business has been good for us ... we’ve been able to reinvest in these old buildings. I hope you approve.”

Acknowledging the tribute from his sons and the employees of Charles Krug, Peter Mondavi Sr. said he wanted to share the accolades with his wife, Blanche. “Thanks to you, dear, for all the support you’ve given me,” he declared.

The evening’s honoree also let everyone know the word “retire” isn’t in his vocabulary. “Right now, I’m working up a projection of our business in the future,” he declared, two months short of his 94th birthday.

L. Pierce Carson contributed to this story.