The UC Davis Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the University of California, Davis, will be presented this evening to Robert and Margrit Mondavi during a formal dinner at the chancellor's residence.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman will join in the award ceremony, which will be attended by members of the campus community and many friends and supporters of both the Mondavis and UC Davis.

"Robert and Margrit Mondavi have demonstrated that innovation and excellence are worthy and reachable goals, that universities like ours are worthy of investment, that the sciences and the arts are essential and compatible companions, and that each of us -- no matter our calling in life -- is capable of and responsible for creating a legacy," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef.

"I am delighted to award the UC Davis Medal to them for all that they have done for this university, for the state, for everyone desiring a meaningful and enriched life. I can't imagine more deserving recipients."

Earlier today, the Mondavis helped dedicate the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, which will break ground next spring near UC Davis' south entry.

The Mondavis have had a long and productive relationship with UC Davis that grew out of Robert's keen interest in applying the latest campus research to commercial winemaking. He has said that he learned winemaking by reading and applying the writings of the late Maynard Amerine, a renowned UC Davis professor of viticulture and enology and a patriarch of wine science.

UC Davis faculty members also have collaborated on a project in which the Mondavis were instrumental -- development of COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, which opened in Napa in 2001.

In a very real sense, the Mondavis are both family and neighbors of UC Davis. Robert's son Tim and Margrit's oldest grandson, Quinn, are both UC Davis alumni. Additionally, the Mondavis' Oakville vineyard is adjacent to UC Davis' Oakville Experimental Vineyard in the Napa Valley.

In 2001, Robert and Margrit Mondavi, who have long been passionate about enhancing the quality of life through wine, food and the arts, presented UC Davis with a $35 million personal gift, including $25 million for the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science and $10 million for the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

The gift is the largest private contribution to UC Davis and represents one of the most generous single gifts from an individual donor in the history of the University of California.

This is only the fifth time that the UC Davis Medal has been awarded. The medal is intended to honor individuals who "in unique ways and by rare accomplishments" have shown themselves to be "extraordinarily special" members of the university family. Previous recipients are former UC regents Roy Brophy and Alice Gonzales, former U.S. President Bill Clinton; and UC Davis alumnus and former UC Regent Charles Soderquist.