The Bronco Wine Company is a
vintner
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:
*Cooperating with viticulturists
*Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...
that produces
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
s under many brands and is based in
Ceres, California
Ceres is a city in Stanislaus County, California. Its population was 49,302 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 45,417 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is part of the Modesto metropolitan statistical area.
Ceres is located in the San Joaquin Valley a ...
. It is the fourth largest producer of wine in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Bronco Wine Co has 10000 employees at all locations globally. (Employees figure is modelled). There are 2 companies in the Bronco Wine Co corporate family.
Fred and Joe Franzia attended
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...
and picked their school symbol for the company. Bronco is a contraction of
Brothers a
nd
Cousin, after the three founders.
History
CEO
Fred Franzia – nephew of wine legend
Ernest Gallo
Ernest J. Gallo (March 18, 1909March 6, 2007) was an American businessman and philanthropist. Gallo co-founded the E & J Gallo Winery in Modesto, California.
Early life
Gallo was born on March 18, 1909, in Jackson, California.[Franzia
Franzia is a brand of wine produced by The Wine Group, known for its box wines sold in 3 and 5-liter cartons. Franzia wines, throughout their history, were known as affordable table wines, popular in the 1960s and 1970s as "jug wine", and now a ...]
winery business was purchased by
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
. The Franzia brand was later purchased by
the Wine Group
The Wine Group is an American alcoholic beverage company founded in 1981, and based in Livermore, California.
Products
It produces wine brands including Franzia, Cupcake Vineyards, Benziger Family Winery, Chloe Wine Collection, 7 Deadly Wines, I ...
, a privately-held bulk wine producer based in San Francisco (the source of the "bag-in-box" wines that bear the Franzia name, but which have no connection to either the Franzia family or to Bronco).
In 1995 Bronco Wine Company purchased the brandname Charles Shaw from
a bankrupt company and used it for a line of very inexpensive wines, introduced in 2002 and priced at $1.99 per bottle. The wines became nicknamed "Two-Buck Chuck" and were sold exclusively through
Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States.
The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...
stores.
In August 2013, Bronco Wine Company entered into a marketing campaign for its Allure Moscato wine products in partnership with Hip Hop artist
Warren G
Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970) is an American rapper and producer known for his role in West Coast rap's 1990s ascent.Steve Huey"Warren G: Biography" ''AllMusic.com'', Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. Along with Snoop Dogg and N ...
and Brand Elite, LLC.
Activities
Description
Bronco owns over
35,000 acres (140 km) of vineyards, most of which are located in California's
Central Valley, with
storage and production facilities in
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
,
Napa Valley
Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on January 27, 1981. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier ...
,
Sonoma Valley
Sonoma Valley is a valley located in southeastern Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards an ...
,
Escalon and
Madera. The wine producer has the capacity to produce 61 million gallons (230 million L) of wine annually. Total annual sales are approximately 20 million cases.
Franzia's marketing methods contrast with those of his higher priced competitors, although he is also credited with introducing new consumers to the wine market and ultimately to the premium brands. His business model is based on ownership of over , largest in the country, and the continuing surplus of grapes. Franzia himself has said in reference to claims that he sells wine for virtually the same price as a bottle of water: "They're overcharging for the water. Don't you get it?" and "I don't make wine to put in a closet. We sell wine to drink."
Bronco Wine is best known for its
Charles Shaw wine
Charles Shaw is an American brand of bargain-priced wine. Largely made from California grapes, Charles Shaw wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, White Zinfandel, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Valdiguié in the style of Beaujola ...
brand of varietals, which for over ten years were commonly nicknamed "Two Buck Chuck" because of the retail price of $1.99 a bottle at
Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States.
The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...
stores in California and some other states. "We choose to sell good quality wines at $2 a bottle because we think it's a fair price," Fred Franzia told ABC News. "We think the other people are charging too much." The Charles Shaw Chardonnay wine won the double gold at the 2007 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition.
Brands
The Bronco Wine Company maintains over 250 brands of wine, including:
Controversies
In 1993 Franzia and Bronco Wine Company were indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to defraud by misrepresenting cheaper grapes as premium
Zinfandel
Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštel ...
and
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...
. Bronco pleaded
no contest
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...
and paid a $2.5 million fine. Franzia also pleaded guilty for his involvement, paid a $500,000 fine, stepped down as Bronco's president and member of the company's board of directors and agreed to refrain from having any involvement with grape purchasing for five years in lieu of prison time.
Franzia has also been at odds with California's premium winemakers for several years over his inclusion of ''Napa'' and other related
appellation
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...
terms on labels of his wines. Franzia sued the state of California over implementation of a 2000 law that tightened federal labeling laws. His lawsuit was unsuccessful initially and up through the appeals process as well; he eventually sought
certiorari
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
in the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, but the Court declined to take the case.
["...Napa vintners yesterday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision that let stand a ruling that wine with the “Napa” name on the bottle must be made with grapes grown in that famous region."]
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.broncowine.com
Company informationfrom
Hoover's Online.
Fred Franzia Warms at 30th Anniversary of Bronco Wine Companyby Paul Franson from Wine Business Monthly in June 2004.
*http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/18/WIGG0ISRON1.DTL Article from ''San Francisco Chronicle'' regarding labeling lawsuit
*http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060501/franzia.html Article from ''Inc.'' magazine about Fred Franzia
How a $2 bottle changed wine industryarticle from msnbc.com
Wineries in California
California wine
Ceres, California
Companies based in Stanislaus County, California
Food and drink companies established in 1973
1973 establishments in California