Robert Mondavi Changed Wine. His Grandson Aims to Change Farming.

Robert Mondavi paved the way for Napa Valley to take a place among the leading wine regions of the world and raised the bar for all American producers.

By the force of his charismatic personality, Mr. Mondavi, a hard-driving visionary who established the Robert Mondavi Winery after being forced out of the family business, practically willed Napa to strive for greatness.

Now, Carlo Mondavi, a grandson of Robert, is taking on a similar role, pushing the California wine industry in a new direction born not of 20th-century aspirations but of the existential threat of the 21st-century: climate change.

Mr. Mondavi, 43, envisions something of an agricultural revolution that would rein in farming’s carbon footprint, estimated at roughly a quarter of the greenhouse emissions each year. It requires a combination of regenerative agriculture, increased biodiversity and what he calls renewable farming, which is no longer dependent on the fossil fuel industry, but instead relies on renewable sources of energy.