Gallo (wine)
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E & J Gallo Winery is a winery and distributor headquartered in
Modesto, California Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...
. It was founded in 1933 by
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.Julio Gallo Julio Gallo (March 21, 1910 – May 2, 1993) was one of two of the founders of the E & J Gallo Winery. Biography He was born on March 21, 1910, in Oakland, California to Joseph Gallo, Sr. He had two brothers: his partner in the wine business, Er ...
, and is the largest exporter of
California wines California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. I ...
. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest
family-owned A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...
winery 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 ...
.


History

During
Prohibition in the United States In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtai ...
, Ernest and Julio Gallo grew grapes and sold them to eastern states where home winemaking was allowed.Bob Jamieson
"Ernest Gallo, the Truth Behind the Myth"
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
, 8 March 2007
On June 14, 1933, Ernest Gallo filed an application with the Prohibition administration to open a bonded wine storeroom in San Francisco. On June 20, his application was rejected. He was advised that in order to open a storeroom, he had to own a bonded winery. And in order to be bonded as a winery, he had to own vineyards. Ernest and Julio then took steps to bond a winery in the name of their newly formed partnership, E & J Gallo. They had stationery printed that included two designations next to their name: “winery” and “grape growers and shippers.” Their father's estate owned both the grape growing and shipping businesses as well as the vineyards required to establish a winery, at that juncture. Ernest applied on this letterhead to the Board of Alcohol for approval. He wrote that he and Julio were “grape growers with over 400 acres of grapes.” The two brothers started the winery in the fall of 1933, following the repeal of Prohibition. Ernest and Julio were competing against larger, more established, and better financed companies, including more than 800 wine companies established in California in the first few years after the repeal of Prohibition. Their
starting capital Financial capital (also simply known as capital or equity in finance, accounting and economics) is any economic resource measured in terms of money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or to provide t ...
was less than $6,000 (~$110,000 inflation-adjusted to 2017), with $5,000 of that borrowed by Ernest from his mother-in-law, Teresa Franzia. The brothers learned the craft of commercial
winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...
by reading old, pre-Prohibition pamphlets published by the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
which they retrieved from the basement of the Modesto Public Library. Julio was focused on the production of wine, and Ernest on its sale.Kim Kowsky
"Winemaker Julio Gallo Dies in Car Crash"
''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', 3 May 1993
They had just one tractor, and would run it permanently on 12/12 hour shifts. On the first year of activity, the brothers had produced 177,000 gallons of wine. In 1957, E & J Gallo launched the fortified cheap white wine Thunderbird. In 1962, E & J Gallo launched the one gallon finger-ringed jug of cheap wine, ''Red Mountain'', later ''Carlo Rossi Red Mountain'', named after a winery above Oakdale that closed during Prohibition. Later, the US market began to move away from cheap wines. Ernest and Julio were the first to introduce brand management and modern merchandising to the wine industry, and led the way in bringing new products to store shelves. They were first in breakthrough quality initiatives such as long-term grower contracts for varietal grapes and grape research programs. They were also first to establish a truly significant foreign sales and marketing force to export California wines overseas. They pioneered wine advertising on television and launched many wine advertising campaigns. (One of these helped to popularize "Hymne", composed and performed by
Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...
, by featuring it as background music in some of its television commercials.) The company's 1960s ads were focused on associating their US-made wines with Europe's fine wine regions. In 1983, for the first time, the company put a vintage date on one of its wines, the 1978 Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon."The Gallo Family"
''
Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...
''
During the 1980s and 1990s, E & J Gallo bought wine labels from Europe and Australia. By 1993, E & J Gallo was the country's largest winery, with a 25% share of the American wine market. Julio Gallo died in a car accident on 2 May 1993. Ernest died in 2007, and his son Joe Gallo took over the company as CEO. In 2002 E & J Gallo purchased the Louis M. Martini Winery, giving the company its first Napa Valley location. On September 14, 2007,
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSLO) is a diversified media and merchandising company founded by Martha Stewart and owned by Marquee Brands LLC since April 2019. It is organized into four business segments: publishing, Internet, broadcasti ...
announced a
partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...
with E & J Gallo Winery to produce a brand of wine labelled "Martha Stewart Vintage". In 2011, E & J Gallo sold Hornsby's hard cider to the C&C Group for an undisclosed amount and partnered with
Boisset Collection Boisset Collection (formally known as Boisset Family Estates) is the US office of family-owned Boisset, La Famille des Grands Vins, France's third largest wine group, and Burgundy's largest wine producer. A family-owned producer and importer of w ...
to purchase the Mondavi estate. In 2017, E & J Gallo Winery bought the Napa Valley Stagecoach vineyard. In April 2019, Constellation Brands Inc. announced a deal to sell wine brands, including Clos du Bois and Mark West, to E & J Gallo Winery for $1.7 billion. The deal was later amended, twice, to exclude sparkling wine brands Cook's California 'Champagne' and J. Roget American 'Champagne' (both retained by Constellation for four years post final agreement), Paul Masson Brandy which was divested to Sazerac Company Inc., Sheffield Cellars and Fairbanks divested to Precept Brands LLC, and its High Color Concentrates division was divested to Vie-Del Company. for an adjusted price agreement of $1.1B, of which $250 million is an earnout if brand performance provisions are met over a two-year period after closing. Agreement was finalized on January 6, 2021 for $810 million. In 2020, the
University of California, Merced The University of California, Merced (UC Merced) is a public land-grant research university and Hispanic-serving institution located in Merced, California, and is the tenth and newest of the University of California (UC) campuses. Established ...
was planning on opening its first new school since it launched, the Ernest & Julio Gallo School of Management, a multi-disciplinary school encompassing many different disciplines.


Legal disputes

In 1970, David Gallo was considering suing country rock group Boones Farm over the use of the name, Boones Farm. In 1986, the Gallo brothers sued their younger brother
Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
for selling cheese branded with the Joseph Gallo Farms name. Joseph then counterclaimed, alleging that Ernest and Julio conspired to steal his share of the inheritance from their father. This claim included the winery, where the evidence submitted by Joseph's attorney suggested that it was actually started by their father. Joseph Gallo lost both suits and was forced to change the name of his business to Joseph Farms. In the 1990s, Gallo Winery made an agreement with Gallo Pasta (a Spanish company) that the latter would not sell their pasta in the United States. Gallo filed a cease-and-desist order in April 2009 against "The Spanish Table", a Seattle-based specialty food retailer, for carrying the pasta despite the previous agreement with the maker. In February 2010, twelve French winemakers and traders who had supplied wine to Gallo for its ''Red Bicyclette'' brand were found guilty in a French court of fraud, as they had claimed an inferior wine sold to Gallo was
Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...
. In October 2019, a lawsuit filed in the
Eastern District of California The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (in case citations, E.D. Cal.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Ninth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the ...
claimed Gallo used patented technology without a license to develop their irrigation system.


Labor relations

The
United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...
(UFW) began boycotting Gallo in the summer of 1973 after Gallo did not renew their contract and signed with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Lead by
Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged ...
, the UFW alleged that Gallo had worked out a "sweetheart deal" with the teamsters that offered fewer protections and that workers did not agree to teamster representation. An estimated 10,000 workers and supporters of the UFW marched 100 miles over the course of a week to the Gallo winery in
Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...
. Supporters of the boycott nationwide protested the buying and selling of Gallo wines, including student groups at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in
Cambridge, MA Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
who demanded a boycott of Gallo by the university and picketed local stores. The boycott against Gallo was called off by the UFW in 1978 after the union felt it had improved workers' rights of representation in labor disputes. In October 2009, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (CALRB) revoked a 2007 election to eject the
United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...
from Gallo Winery, citing interference from Gallo. This was the second time in a decade a vote to remove the union was overturned due to allegations of Gallo illegally trying to influence proceedings; the other was a 2003 ruling in which the CALRB threw out an election citing a foreman improperly requesting signatures for the petition for the vote. Gallo appealed that decision.


Ecological impact

Gallo helped develop and implement the Code of Sustainable Wine Growing Practices, in collaboration with the Wine Institute and the
California Association of Winegrape Growers The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) was established in 1974 as an advocate for California's wine grape growers, providing leadership on research and education programs, public policies, sustainable farming practices and trade po ...
. The Code promotes sustainable practices which are environmentally sound, economically feasible and socially equitable. It covers virtually every aspect of the wine business including
viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
and grape growing, wine making, purchasing and building and maintaining productive relationships with neighbors and the local communities. Gallo received
ISO 14001 ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b ...
certification from the
International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...
. The certification was created to globally assist and guide companies to reduce their environmental impact. In April 2009, the
California State Water Resources Control Board The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is one of six branches of the California Environmental Protection Agency. History This regulatory program has had the status of an official government department since the 1950s. The Sta ...
served Gallo Glass Co. (a Gallo Winery subsidiary) with a cease and desist order and $73,000 fine for allegedly channeling water from the Russian River into an unlicensed reservoir; however, there are provisions for licensing the reservoir under proper monitoring of flow and capacity. In March 2015, the
California Department of Toxic Substances Control The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (or DTSC) is an agency of the government of the state of California. The mission of the DTSC is to protect public health and the environment from toxic harm. DTSC is part of the California En ...
sued the E & J Gallo glass production plant in Modesto for improper storage and treatment of the glass bottles. E & J Gallo would use the dust collected by its air pollution control devices, and introduce it in the components of their glass bottles during production. E & J Gallo argued that this process was standard in the wine industry.


Wine brands

In addition to the Gallo Family Vineyards brand, the company makes, markets, and distributes wine under more than 100 other labels. The company also makes the
low-end fortified wine Flavored fortified wines (known informally as bum wines or bum vino) are inexpensive fortified wines that typically have an alcohol content between 13% and 20% alcohol by volume (ABV). They are made from various fruits (including grapes and citr ...
s Thunderbird and Night Train Express. * André is one of the best-selling brands of sparkling wine in the United States. It is available in varietals including Brut, Extra Dry,
Cold Duck Cold Duck is the name of a sparkling wine made in the United States. Origin The recipe was based on a German legend involving Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony ordering the mixing of champagne with unfinished bottles of wine. The drink, as it ev ...
, Blush, Spumante, strawberry, and peach-flavored California Champagne, among others. André's California Champagne is bulk-fermented. : While the United States agreed in 2006 to not approve any new wine labels for US-produced products that include the term "Champagne," André is legally allowed to use the term as a grandfathered label. André's Brut California Champagne has been described as the sparkling wine that many people have noted was their first experience with this variety of wine. One champagne expert said it is "like ginger ale – pale yellow in color, lemony and on the sweet side, with maybe an apple flavor as well and low bubbles". * Carlo Rossi is a brand of wine produced by the E & J Gallo Winery. The brand was named after Charles Rossi, at the time a salesman for Gallo and a relation of the Gallo family by marriage. Charlie Rossi starred in TV ads for the brand in the 1970s. Carlo Rossi wines were at one point the second best selling brand in the United States. Carlo Rossi is reflected in popular culture in E-40's single, "Carlos Rossi." * Boone's Farm was formerly a brand of apple wine produced by the E & J Gallo Winery. Now, flavors are malt-based instead of wine-based due to changes in tax laws. The brand is popular on college campuses due to its low price. Boone's Farm Beverages, served in 750 ml bottles, are often located in the cold box area of convenience stores across the United States. In some U.S. states, such as
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, some Boone's Farm products are labeled as
malt beverage A malt drink is a fermented drink in which the primary ingredient is the grain, or seed, of the barley plant, which has been allowed to sprout slightly in a traditional way called " malting" before it is processed. By far the most predominant ...
s and not as flavored apple/citrus wine products, as state liquor laws prohibit the sale of wine in grocery and convenience stores. * Barefoot Wine, produced by
Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...
-based Barefoot Cellars, was purchased by E & J Gallo Winery in 2005. The line offers 17 varietals and blends:
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 ...
,
Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...
,
Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...
,
Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...
,
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' ...
, White Zinfandel, Moscato, Pinot grigio,
Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...
,
Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...
, Riesling, Sweet Red, Brut Cuvee Chardonnay sparkling wine, Extra Dry sparkling wine, Pinot Grigio sparkling wine, Moscato Spumante, and Pink Cuvee sparkling wine. In January 2020, Barefoot Wine announced its launch of a line of wine-infused
hard seltzer Hard seltzer, adult seltzer, mature seltzer, spiked seltzer and hard sparkling alcohol water is a type of highball drink containing seltzer (carbonated water), alcohol, and often fruit flavorings. In the US the alcohol is usually made by fermenti ...
.


Additional brands


A–B


C–E


F–I


J–L


M


N–R


S–T


U–Z


Vineyard trials

Viticulturists at Gallo use their vineyard resources to trial new
grape variety This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...
plantings in California wine regions in an effort to see which varieties grow best in various climates and soil types. One of the varieties that Gallo has been trialling in the
San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...
is the
French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and America ...
grape Ederena.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes – A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' p. 322, Allen Lane 2012


Advertising

''
Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...
'' noted that "the Gallo experience," during the 1950s, '60s, '70s and 1980s, wore down many an ad agency. Ernest Gallo was listed in the periodical's "The TOUGHEST Clients" series.


Awards

E & J Gallo Winery was named the "Bon Appetit Winery of the Year" in the 1996, 1998, and 2001 San Francisco International Wine Competitions. Intangible Business, a brand valuation firm, rated Gallo as the world's "Most Powerful Wine Brand" in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.


See also

* Gallo family * Napa County wine


Further reading

* *
Ernest_Gallo
''California Wine Industry Oral History Series'',
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallo, E and J Winery Wineries in California Companies based in Stanislaus County, California 1933 establishments in California American companies established in 1933 Food and drink companies established in 1933 American brands Wine brands Gallo family Family-owned companies of the United States