Talk:E & J Gallo Winery

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[edit] Gallo and the grape boycott

Back in the early 1970's there was a boycott of Gallo wines led by United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez. Does anyone know of the history of Gallo and union farm workers? From what I remember, Gallo wines were singled out by the UFW because of Gallo's refusal to bargain with the UFW. James C. March 01:27, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gallo in France

In "How to sell wine to the French," Sylvain Removille, Gallo's manager there, indicates that he and his staff have been physically assaulted promoting the American wine. He reports that in one case "I was literally thrown out of a Tex Mex in Paris. As soon as the owner realised that I was selling California wines, he said he would stock them over his dead body, took me by the the collar and threw me into the street, exactly as if we were in a cowboy movei." Not even French themselves are safe from danger. A supermarket in Carcassone was destroyed because it caried Gallo wine (How to sell gallo to the French. Decanter, June, 2006, p. 160).Luke YHammadian 15:07, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gallo and price

Wines sold under the original Gallo label have a reputation for being cheap and lower quality (at least among wine enthusiasts). I the low cost is a major attraction for many Gallo wine consumers in the U.S, more so then just simple labels. I think this should possibly be mentioned in the article. Also their wine growing practices have been criticised by environmentalists. [1] --Cab88 02:24, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gallo price and quality

Gallo may have a reputation, especially among older people, for being inexpensive and of low quality. However, perceptions are often not always correct. I don't know the exact prices of the Gallo of Sonoma Estate Cabernet Sauvignon that received 94 points or of the Gallo of Sonoma Estate Chardonnay that received 92 points from Wine Enthusiast, but they were modest and represented excellent value.

A New Yorker magazine cartoon caption read: "Surprisingly good, isn't it? It's Gallo. Mort and I simply got tired of being snobs." I don't drink Gallo but a good definition of a wine snob is one who cares more about the label than the contents of the bottle.

Gallo produces and distributes wines ranging from extremely low cost Boone's Farm to moderately priced upscale wines that win high scores from Robert M. Parker, Jr. and others.Jim Redway 02:35, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

The point I was trying to make was for a long time, Gallo was largely known for their cheap table wines including Carlo Rossi (jug wine) and Peter Vella (box wine). I'm aware that more recently Gallo has started selling some higher priced wines under the name like Gallo of Sonoma, which has change people's perception of it somewhat. There appears to be a campaign to convince drinkers of higher quality wines that Gallo isn't just cheap table wine these days. The selling of wines under other names with the Gallo connection less obvious seems to be an attempt appeal to a market that looks upon anything Gallo as low quality. I think Gallo's past and present rep could be discussed in more detail. --Cab88 07:07, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

In Germany the RRP is euro 4.99 per bottle (6.99 for the premium "Turning Leave"-linie ), it is a open secret, that Germany's leading discounter Aldi is offering Gallo wine under a noname brand ("Burlwood") for about 2.50. . How much is it in the staates? --Nemissimo II 21:37, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sounds like Ad-copy

Is it just me, or does much of this article sound like it was written by the Gallo Family PR department? Several claims are uncited, while the general wording sounds unabashidely praisful. ould someone with some knowledge of the industry please take a crack at fixing this up?

[edit] Looks like it advocates a Point

This passage:

"In early 2007 the Gallo Wine company entered into legal discussion with a Middlebury College band called "The Carlo Rossi String Band." The band consists of a group of young, talented bluegrass musicians who play regular concerts at their Vermont college. The Gallo Wine company, which owns the Carlo Rossi wine product claims that the band's use of the "Carlo Rossi" brand in their name constitutes copyright infringement. As most of the band members have not reached the age of 21, the Gallo Wine company also worries that the band is encouraging underage drinking. The outcome of these discussions remains uncertain."

while not expressly advocating a point, does not appear to be relevant to the actual topic. Whether it is true or not, it seems like superfluous material for article itself. It also may be a violation of the original research prohibition. StormRyder 03:17, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I am removing it primarily because it is uncited and thus constitutes WP:OR. Even if we had a cite, I would argue that since the band is not notable enough to have its own wiki entry, we should not mention it here either. Cheers, Skinwalker 12:51, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
There are 11 unique google hits for the band, and no mention of any action taken by E&J Gallo for copyright infringement. Total OR. Skinwalker 15:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Only Three-time Winner of the "International Winery of the Year"?

This factoid is trumpeted on the Gallo web site... but doing a little google searching, one can find other wineries making similar or better claims. Banfi, for example, claim they won the award "for an unprecedented fourth time" in 2000.[2] Unfortunately, an authoritative listing of the award's winners is nowhere to be found on the competition's home page.

149.8.226.148 22:44, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] They have a winery now?!

I thought the Gallo family only made alcoholic Kool-Aid. Isn't that what "American wine" means? I was under the impression that the vineyards were just a way of hiding the turpentine vats. --75.58.52.152 06:37, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Attribution note

Some content in the Wine brand section is from the merged article André (wine). AgneCheese/Wine 04:45, 3 November 2007 (UTC) Some content in the Wine brand section is from the merged article Carlo Rossi (wine). AgneCheese/Wine 03:01, 4 November 2007 (UTC)


I removed "As of 2007 the marketing department has a reputation in the industry for having a high turnover rate due to a negative environment." as it is not sourced. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.196.221.79 (talk) 20:19, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV

The article reads like typical PR.--Nemissimo (talk) 17:29, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Politics

Any reason there's no reference to their extensive participation in politics via campaign contributions? (StarkeRealm (talk) 11:12, 19 March 2008 (UTC))

[edit] Copyvio by 12.30.36.40

Someone from this IP made several edits today, all of which were copy/pasted from a variety of web sites. Just because you take words straight from several sites doesn't make it not be a WP:COPYVIO!. Here's what I cut:

[edit] History

This official history paints a picture of a family struggling to make an honest living but losing everything in the Depression. Ellen Hawkes, who wrote an unauthorized history of the Gallo family called Blood and Wine, however, put a different perspective on things.[3]

Far from starting from scratch, she claimed, the brothers had inherited a fully-equipped wine-making business which their father Joe and his brother Mike, a convicted bootlegger and con-man who specialised in blackmailing married men he "discovered" in bed with his girlfriend, had established during the Prohibition era. On their farm in California they became successful grape-growers, selling their fruit in Chicago to "home winemakers" and, indirectly, to Al Capone.[4]

More sensationally, it transpired that the Gallos' parents had died, not in an accident as was sometimes claimed, but in an apparent murder/suicide in which the elder Joe shot his wife and then himself. The circumstances of the deaths remain mysterious to this day.[5]

Whatever the truth, within months Ernest and Julio had taken over the business and founded a new one: E&J Gallo Winery. Ernest became head of the family and the business, overseeing its sales operations; Julio handled production. Youngest brother Joe was an employee. [6]

Privately-held, Gallo is known for not revealing much. This strategy has led to much muckraking and speculation. For instance, a large component of Gallo’s historical success has been the marketing of cheap fortified wines such as Thunderbird and Night Train. Similar to the tobacco companies, Gallo directly marketed these brands to African-American and urban markets, going so far as to throw empty bottles into the gutters to raise brand awareness. Understandably, Gallo has not said much publicly about these practices. Gallo still owns these brands along with other stellar offerings such as Boone’s Farm and Bartle & Jaymes wine coolers but you will not see the Gallo name on these labels.[7]

An advertising jingle ran: "What's the word? Thunderbird How's it sold? Good and cold What's the jive? Bird's alive What's the price? Thirty twice."[8]

According to author Ellen Hawkes, Ernest later delighted in telling the story of driving through a tough, inner city neighborhood. Seeing a man on the sidewalk, Gallo rolled down his window and called out, "What's the word?" The immediate answer was, "Thunderbird."[9]

[edit] Political Influence

The Gallos always knew the value of political connections and contributed to the campaigns of various congressmen, including Democratic Senator Alan Cranston. The Gallos helped Cranston win a tough re-election bid, and Cranston returned the favor. In 1978 he pushed through an amendment to allow the family to spread out inheritance tax payments over several years. Cranston submitted the new tax rule as an amendment to another bill and helped push it through the Senate. It wasn't that difficult, Cranston brought the bill to the Senate floor on a rare Saturday session where it was passed with only a handful of senators present. The move, which saved the Gallos millions of dollars, was dubbed the "Gallo Wine Amendment" by Senator Bob Dole of Kansas.[10]

Dole was a Republican and Cranston was a Democrat, but the Gallos were even-handed in their largesse. In 1986, the Democrats were rewriting the tax code. The Gallos decided that an amendment on the table could lower their inheritance taxes further still, so they lobbied for it. They lobbied the very senator who had derisively labeled Cranston's amendment eight years earlier: Bob Dole. It isn't known what was said in private, but when Bob Dole supported this second amendment, his political action committee (PAC) received four $5,000 checks from Ernest, Ernest's wife, Julio, and Julio's wife. The favorable tax treatment authorized by the amendment expired in 1990.[11]

In the 1990s Ernest also helped to raise money for President Bill Clinton, and some saw it as no coincidence when Congress subsequently delayed an expected increase in Chilean wine imports and voted to increase funding for a wine promotion programme that, controversially, gave Gallo millions of dollars to promote its wines overseas.[12]

I put the links (or at least the ones that didn't already exist in the article) into the External Links section. There's some good stuff here that would make great additions to the article, but it can't just be copy/pasted word-for-word from elsewhere. Dori (talk) 00:59, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Inconsistency between E & J Gallo Winery and Ernest Gallo articles

The article on E & J Gallo Winery states that the brothers sued Joseph in 1988 but the article on Ernest Gallo says it was in 1986. I assume only one of these is correct. --87.194.118.205 (talk) 17:17, 20 April 2008 (UTC)