Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Being a wine drinker by preference, I'd like to acknowledge the passing today of Ernest Gallo, the last survivor of the sibling team who brought us Ernest & Julio Gallo wine. I grew up in California's Central Valley and many of the surrounding farms in the San Joaquin Valley were independent grape growers for Gallo. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who had their first painful hangover after drinking Gallo Hearty Burgundy (from the jug, mind you). So my associations with this brand are dubious, but pleasant.

While Julio was the winemaker of the team, Ernest ran the business. Their first product in the market was Thunderbird wine in 1957. 50 years later, their products have a reputable spot in the upscale market, proudly standing with the Shafers and the Silver Oaks. You really have to credit Ernest for this. He believed in the inherent philosophy of a family business and to his credit, it remains a family business today--100% family owned and operated.

I heard a fascinating story about the Gallos on NPR this morning. It was important to Ernest Gallo to control every aspect of the product, start to finish. Besides making the wine, he manufactured the bottles, the labels, the ink for the labels, and so on. That's pretty closely held quality control. It would be easy to suggest he suffered excessive tendencies of OCD, but I like to think it was his passion for maintaining a high standard of excellence.

So raise a glass to Ernest, the last survivor of the generation that introduced us to screw top wine and gave us a starting point for our palates to evolve.

2 comments:

SDCrawford said...

I am related to the first winemaker hired by the Gallos. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3488/is_1_81/ai_59363492

Chicken And Waffles said...

That speaks volumes!